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Sleep Deprived?
Use tech to get a good night’s rest
WRITTEN BY KIM KOMANDO
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BACK TO SCHOOL 2018 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
Sleep apps
Sleep apps are handy
because you can download
them onto your smart-
phone. They use your
phone’s “accelerometer” to
figure out what your body
is doing. You place the
phone near your body in
bed. The phone will detect
when you toss and turn,
and it will make an educat-
ed guess about what sleep
stage you’re in.
Perhaps the most help-
ful feature is the ALARM
CLOCK . Just set a window of time
when you want to wake up, and
the app will determine when you’ve
entered your lightest sleep. The
alarm tones are gentle and sooth-
ing, and draw you effortlessly from
your dreams. Other popular options
include the SLEEP CYCLE
ALARM CLOCK , because
of its sensitive movement
detection, its range of low-
key alarms, and its easy-to-
read sleep reports, and the
SLEEP TIME APP , which uses
a similar cycle-based alarm.
Fitness watches
There are lots of advan-
tages to fitness watches:
A wristwatch feels very
natural on your body, so
you don’t have to share
a bed with your phone.
The market is saturated in fit-
ness watches, but Fitbit is still the
best-known name, thanks to its early
development and sleek designs. Like
a phone app or high-quality sleep
monitor, FITBIT detects your move-
ments while you sleep and figures
M
ost of us know
about circadian
rhythms and the
sleep cycle. We
have a basic idea of
what REM is, and
know it’s not best to wake up during
a deep sleep. But it’s not as if you
can watch yourself sleep, and you set
your alarm clock for a time that has
nothing to do with how deeply you’re
snoozing.
There is an entire branch of medi-
cal science called polysomnography
that helps diagnose sleep disorders,
and it’s hard to say whether a free
app can rival a specialist’s advice.
Still, many people believe that the
right technology can positively affect
sleep patterns, especially when used
in a thoughtful and methodical way.
The following suggestions could hold
the answer to a better night’s sleep.