How Technology Helps Me Sleep

You are probably thinking technology and sleep shouldn’t be mixed. And you are right. Staring at a screen before you go to sleep is bad with blue light and all. But, what about sound? Surely audio won’t effect our efforts to sleep?

Below are just a handful of ways that technology helps me fall asleep that could help you too.

Alexa

I bought my Alexa at the beginning of the first lockdown last year. I was bored. A student forced to live at home due to the pandemic, with lots of furlough coming my way. Like many people I treated myself to plenty of clothes. And of course, an Alexa. 

        “She plays rain sounds for me every night”

Prior to this, if I was stressed or my anxiety was playing up, I would use a Spotify playlist of different rain sounds to help me sleep. But, with my anxiety I would worry about my phone getting hot (I keep it next to my bed) and something bad happening. With Alexa, she – yes, I prefer to call her a ‘she’ rather than an ‘it’ – stops me from worrying about that. She plays rain sounds for me every night when asked … and a timer can be set for the sounds to stop too!

Calm

Sometimes if Alexa doesn’t quite do the job, I turn to an app called Calm. Calm is a meditation and sleep application which has different stories within.

        “Calm has a full library of bedtime stories”

Those of you who have followed Harry Styles’ career over the years will be familiar with his story on the app. Yes folks, Calm has a full library of bedtime stories spoken by well recognised voices. This includes the likes of Idris Elba and Joanna Lumley. I really do hope David Attenborough does one soon. I could listen to his voice all day.

Calm doesn’t necessarily have to be used whilst you are trying to sleep either. Sometimes I will use Calm’s plethora of meditating sounds to relax and unwind after a stressful day.

Audible

If you would rather listen to something similar to the genre of books you usually tend to read, then Audible is a great alternative. Like Alexa, Audible is powered by Amazon, which originally started out as an online book store. So there is no surprise to Audible having such popular use.

Audible has any book or story you can think of. Literally ANY! So if you fancy listening to George R.R. Martin’s A Game Of Thrones before bed? Go for it. Or Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern? Do it! Whatever will make you sleepy and take your mind away from a stressful day, give it a try.

(If you find Stephen Fry’s voice as soothing as I do, well, he is on both Audible and Calm!)

Spotify

Spotify is a fantastic platform to find podcasts on. Podcasts ranging from well established celebrities like David Tennant or Giovanna Fletcher, to royals like the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! Personally, I can’t fall asleep whilst listening to podcasts because I enjoy listening to their conversations too much. But podcasts are brilliant ways of taking your mind off of things. Usually I tend to listen to a podcast whilst resting my eyes. Whether it be after a lecture video call, or binge-watching too many episodes of a show. A podcast is a great way of entertaining the mind.

Once more, you can also find a range of rain and thunderstorm sounds. These sounds on both Spotify and Alexa have worked wonders in helping me sleep. Even my older brother uses these sounds! If you find that rain sounds aren’t for you, there is a wide range of different sounds which you can use to help you sleep.

Jen Charlton

Featured image courtesy of Gregory Pappas on Unsplash. Image licence found here. No changes were made to image.