We’ve all been there; you’re either struggling to fall asleep and get the quality sleep that you need, or, when you finally arise in the morning, you’re groggy and tired and might only feel human again after your third cup of coffee!

With our busy lives and constant distractions in the form of smartphones and Netflix, falling asleep and getting a good night’s rest is harder than ever before.

Luckily, technology and all it’s innovation can do us good, too. The rise of helpful, medically endorsed sleep apps has made quite the buzz over the past year. These apps have been specifically designed to give you the best possible sleep at night, and we’re oh-so thankful!

We’ve rounded up our top two favourite sleep apps that will help you get some quality shut eye and have you waking up feeling refreshed and ready for the day – without increasing your caffeine consumption!

Sleep Cycle

Probably the most world renowned sleeping app, Sleep Cycle is essentially an alarm clock app with a twist.

By utilising your smartphone’s microphone, Sleep Cycle analyzes your sleep pattern and calculated when will be the best time to wake you up. To avoid grogginess (and possibly a temper tantrum in the morning), Sleep Cycle will wake you up when you are in your lightest phase of sleep.

This means that you won’t be rudely woken up by your alarm clock when you’re just on the middle of an intense dream.

You can set a time window during which to be woken up, though. So, for instance, you can choose to be woken up between 6.30 and 7am on weekdays, and the app will analyze your sleeping pattern and wake you up when you’re on your lightest cycle within that 30 minute window.

Sleep Cycle also has a snooze function (and we all know how dangerous that can be…) but it will only allow you to hit the snooze button twice!

Fast facts:
– Available on both iOS and Android
– The app is free to download, with additional in-app purchases available

Pillow

Pillow is like having a sleep analyst at your fingertips. The innovative app can tell you almost everything you want to know about the way in which you sleep, what you can do to improve your sleep and when the best times would be for you to wake up.

The app diligently tracks your sleep pattern, and, just like Sleep Cycle, will calculate when the best time would be to wake you up when you’re in your lightest phase of sleep.

What makes Pillow so cool is that you can use it to time different rests periods. If you’re looking for the ideal power nap, then Pillow will calculate the amount of rest time needed for your body.

You can choose between different “rests” including power naps, recovery naps and full cycle naps.

Additionally, the app will provide you with some pretty useful information including your heart rate during sleep, how long it took you to wake up and information on your REM cycle.

Fast facts:
– Available on both iOS and Android
– The app is free with additional in-app purchases available
– You can also opt for Pillow Premium – the premium app priced at R79.99