Getting enough sleep is essential for your physical and mental functioning. Unfortunately, a lot of people neglect their sleep and don’t make it a priority. Some reasons for doing so include stress, anxiety, alcohol, caffeine, or a bad sleeping environment.
If you’re worried about your sleep habits and want to understand what happens when you close your eyes, then a sleep tracker app can help. But which one has the best features, like sleep records, sounds, music, an alarm and so on? The two most highly rated sleep tracker apps are BetterSleep and Sleep Monitor; which one is right for you?
What You Need to Know About BetterSleep
With over 55 million downloads, BetterSleep is certainly a popular sleep tracker app, and it has earned that popularity by offering tons of features. From sleep stories to meditation and music, BetterSleep may be the ultimate app to help you sleep better. Plus, the ability to combine sounds, music, tones, and frequencies to create your own mixes is truly unique. Read on to take a deeper look at what features BetterSleep has to offer.
Download: BetterSleep for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
1. Sleep Content
BetterSleep boasts a massive library of sleep content, including stories, meditations, music, sounds, exercises, and breathing techniques. As aforementioned, the BetterSleep app gives you the ability to combine your favorite sounds, music, and beats to create your own soundscapes. This is one of the top features of the app as so many people find different sounds comforting. You might want to use it as an app for listening to calming nature sounds, like the wind in the trees or waves crashing on the beach. On the other hand, someone else might find it relaxing to listen to the ambiance of a busy city.
Another great feature of BetterSleep is the sleep stories. With over 100 to choose from, there’s no doubt that you’ll find something to soothe you to sleep. A few of the story categories include science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and even bedtime stories for kids. The SleepMoves are a handful of gentle exercises and movements to help you get a good night’s sleep. The breathing practices are suitable for day and night, and you can use this as an app to combat stress and anxiety. Lastly, there are hundreds of meditations with themes ranging from insomnia and tinnitus to mindfulness and visualization.
2. Sleep Tracker
Simple yet effective, BetterSleep’s sleep tracker app does exactly what it says on the tin. When you’re ready to sleep, tap on Sleep, and BetterSleep begins recording. Once you start recording, you can edit your wake-up time, alarm tone, and snooze.
Unfortunately, you can only pause and play your current sound mix, which is slightly inconvenient. A better option would be the ability to choose the soundscapes while you’re in sleep tracking mode. Instead, BetterSleep requires you to stop the recording and go back and select the sleep content you want to listen to.
3. Sleep Journal
BetterSleep provides comprehensive sleep analysis that you can find in your sleep journal. Here, you have a record of your sleep quality, time spent asleep, sleep phases, and sleep recordings. Your sleep quality number changes every night based on certain details, such as your sleeping and waking times and nighttime interruptions.
Below, there is a graph displaying your different sleep phases throughout the night like REM, light, and deep sleep. The sleep recordings are perhaps the best bit of your sleep journal. The app records your sleep and picks up certain sounds that might interfere with the quality of your sleep. In the morning you can have some fun listening to the previous night’s recordings.
What You Need to Know About Sleep Monitor
Sleep Monitor may not have as many downloads as BetterSleep, yet it is possibly the best all-in-one sleep tracker app. This app can track so many aspects of your sleep, including your sleep trends, habits, phases, efficiency, and so much more. Besides a detailed sleep analysis, Sleep Monitor provides a generous library of lullabies and tips and tricks to sleep better. Below are the key features that you can use in the Sleep Monitor app.
Download: Sleep Monitor for iOS | Android (Free, subscription available)
1. Sleep Tracker
By far the most impressive feature that Sleep Monitor has to offer is the sleep tracker tool. Before you begin tracking, you have the option to add your favorite sleep sounds and sleep factors or perform a breathing exercise. The sleep factors are a great addition as these elements can impact your quality of sleep positively and negatively. A handful of these sleep factors are caffeine, pain, alcohol, stress, exercise, and sleep aids.
Once you’re done, tap Start Sleep to begin recording. You can then pause, play, or edit your sleep sounds; set a sleep goal; view the current noise level; and add sleep notes. If you wake up a couple of times to use the bathroom or drink water, you can document that in the sleep notes section.
2. Sleep Records and Trends
Your sleeping records on Sleep Monitor are incredibly intricate, with a detailed look at your sleep from all angles. Here, you have everything you need to know about your sleep records, such as your sleep quality, sleep data, sleep goals, and sleep noises. Each section in your sleep records has in-depth data. For example, your sleep data provides you with the exact time you fell asleep, when you woke up, sleep duration, ambient noise, REM sleep, and how long it took to fall asleep.
Once all the data is analyzed the app gives you a sleep score for the night based on all of your sleep factors. The Trends tab on Sleep Monitor provides you with a weekly or monthly breakdown of your sleep duration, regularity, times, efficiency, surplus, goals, environmental noises, and notes.
3. Sleep Sounds
Sadly, the Sleep Monitor app’s library of sleep sounds isn’t as large as that of BetterSleep. However, it will probably be enough to fulfill your needs if sleep sounds aren’t that crucial to your slumber. The sleep sounds offer plenty of categories. This is an app containing breathing exercises, ASMR and nature sounds, music, and meditation. If you want to better prepare your body for rest, it’s best to choose a gentle guided meditation session. Otherwise, if your perfect lullaby is a kitty purring or a crackling campfire, then take a look at the ASMR options.
Comparing BetterSleep and Sleep Monitor
BetterSleep offers a massive selection of customizable sleep content with a simple sleep tracker and journal. Additionally, the BetterSleep app has limited free content and the premium membership comes at a higher cost.
With its comprehensive sleep tracker and records, Sleep Monitor gives you an in-depth look into your sleep habits, but its library of sleep sounds is somewhat lacking. The Sleep Monitor app also has a lot of content locked behind a paywall, but the premium membership is genuinely cheap.
Which Sleep Tracker App Is Best for You?
Using a sleep tracker app is an amazing way to use technology to your benefit. So which app should you download–BetterSleep or Sleep Monitor? Ultimately, finding the sleep tracker of your dreams depends on your preferences!
For those who’d prefer a massive library of sleep sounds, stories, and music, go for BetterSleep. For those who’d like to focus more on tracking and recording sleep data, go for Sleep Monitor.
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