Counterpoint: Smartphones Can Help You Sleep

Inexpensive apps designed to help you sleep provide a compelling reason to bring your iPhone or Droid to the bedroom.

Previously, The Sleep Education Blog gave a rundown of the reasons why smartphones may keep you awake at night. It turns out there are some pros to go with those cons.
Both the App Store and the Android Marketplace are filled with all kinds of sleep-related downloadable programs. Some are handy, some not so much. Reviews on the Macworld website seem to reflect the varying quality of sleep apps.

For general audiences, white noise generators will be most useful. The free WhiteNoise app by TMSOFT seems to be the most accessible and popular. The noises the program generates range from relaxing to annoying. Try sleeping with the Oscillating Fan, Extreme Rain Pouring or Beach Waves Crashing and avoid the Chimes Chiming and Crickets Chirping sounds.

Another category of noise generators may not be as useful as advertised. The programs play ambient music embedded with nearly-inaudible sounds that signal your brain to sleep. The app is similar to a popular line of CDs available for purchase online. Unfortunately, there aren’t any peer-reviewed scientific studies to back up those claims. The app may be useful if you find the music relaxing. This blogger found the Vangelis-like new age muzak irritating.

Some apps allegedly track your sleep architecture if you place your phone under your pillow. The most popular app, the Sleep Cycle Alarm, even promises to wake you softly when you’re in the latest phase of sleep. There are no indications that this works.

You might instead want to try one of the programs where you can manually log your sleep. These are especially practical for people with insomnia or other sleep disorders. With a couple quick taps every morning you’ll have a full sleep diary prepared for your next visit to an AASM accredited sleep center.

Apps from WebMD, the Mayo Clinic and numerous medical journals are useful for finding health information on the go. Most of this content can be accessed on the web, so if the app is not free pull up Safari or Google Chrome.

The Sleep Education Blog recommends if the app is free, give it a test drive. Just don’t start surfing the web or texting from bed.

All types of traffic noise likely to disturb sleep, harm morning work performance

Buyers beware: living in a home near the airport, a busy road or train tracks will likely translate to a lot of groggy mornings at the office. An abstract presented Tuesday at SLEEP 2010 in San Antonio exposes the tolls of sleeping in an environment with a lot of nighttime noise.

The study found subjects exposed to recorded traffic noise while sleeping reacted slower during a psychomotor vigilance task the next morning. Reaction times tended to slow when the researchers increased the frequency or volume of the noise.

The sound of passing trains most often caused subjects to wake, followed by auto traffic and airplane noise. Each type of noise caused about the same level of impairment the following morning. Combining the three kinds of noise did not lead to worse symptoms.

The lead author of the study said the risk of being awoken by nighttime noise is highest among those who are susceptible to sleep disturbances, including children, shift workers, the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions.

72 study subjects slept in a laboratory as recorded traffic noises from airplanes, cars and trains played for 11 consecutive nights. Sleeping participants heard 40 to 120 sounds in any combination or volume per night. After waking up the subjects completed a psychomotor vigilance task, memory search task and unstable tracking task to measure neurobehavioral performance.

Traffic noises are one of the many causes of the form of insomnia called “environmental sleep disorder.” A common solution is drowning out the traffic sounds with white noise, produced by a fan or sound machine.

How White Noise & Sound Machines Can Help You Sleep

“White Noise” would have been a great name for an ‘80s rock band. Sort of a cross between Whitesnake and Quiet Riot.

Instead it’s music to the ears of many insomnia sufferers. And like a popular rock band, white noise has a large fan base.

A recent article from Columbia News Service reports that there are 20 white noise-related groups on Facebook. And demand was so high for the eight-sound White Noise iPhone application that a new version with more than 40 sounds was released.



But not everyone relies on such high-tech sounds to help them fall asleep. Many use a simple box fan or an oscillating fan. The article describes one woman who relies on the sound of a hair dryer.

There also are a variety of sound machines available for purchase. Some only generate a constant white noise. Others offer soothing sounds such as rain or ocean waves.

Consumer Reports recently reviewed three models. All three of the units blocked out at least some unwanted sounds.

InventorSpot has a glowing review of a classic white noise machine. And the New York Times recently reported on a “smart” sound machine that responds to disrupting noises by increasing its sound output.

So what exactly is white noise, and what’s the big deal about it?

White noise is a combination of the many frequencies of sound. It’s a soothing noise that can help you relax and fall asleep. It can be a simple treatment for some people who have insomnia.

It also helps raise your “arousal threshold.” This means that you can sleep through noises that would otherwise wake you up. The white noise helps cover up disturbing sounds such as a train whistle or a noisy neighbor. It can be a solution for some causes of environmental sleep disorder.

Research shows that white noise also may benefit other groups of people. A 2008 study concluded that it could be helpful for college students.

A 2005 study found that white noise may reduce sleep disruptions for intensive-care unit (ICU) patients. A 2002 study reports that it may help people with acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder.

It also can help shift workers who must sleep during the day. A focus group of night-shift nurses found that many used white noise to improve the quality and quantity of daytime sleep.

White noise also may help babies fall asleep. A study of 20 newborns found that infants were more likely to fall asleep within five minutes in response to white noise.

Will Smarter Phones Make Us Better Sleepers?

With iTunes and an iPhone, you can do much more than download Soulja Boy’s latest hit song. Some application developers are even hoping the iPhone will help you sleep better.

Developer Mark Cooke and composer Norihiko Hibino worked together to create “Prescription for Sleep.” They describe it as “a music visualizer that is intended to act as a sleep aid.” It combines “soothing imagery and therapeutic music” to help you fall asleep.



The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that two college students won a $10,000 prize for developing “Proactive Sleep.” It analyzes your sleep cycle to determine the best time to wake you up in the morning.

After waking you up it uses a game to test your alertness and reaction time. Poor performance indicates that you woke up from a stage of deep sleep. Performing well is a sign that you woke up from a stage of light sleep.

The program uses this information to “learn” more about your sleep cycle. This helps it predict when to wake you up on the days that follow.

The Washington Post reports that a “White Noise” application offers 40 sounds to soothe you to sleep. You can choose the sound of ocean waves, chirping crickets or even a humming air conditioner.

But is all of this necessary? Do we need more gadgets and programs to help us sleep? Or do we just need to get back to the basic habits of sleeping well?

What do you think - is new technology hindering our sleep? Or does it offer new ways to help us sleep better?

Come back tomorrow to learn about studies that examine whether or not cell phones have a negative impact on our sleep.