Iowa Sleep Blog

Technology and New Year Resolutions

Monday, January 02, 2017

Technology that can Help Your New Year’s Sleep Resolutions

On average, 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year’s resolutions, and one of the most popular is to sleep more or set a better sleep schedule. Many start out motivated in January, but find themselves losing steam by February and March. Set yourself up for success by using an app to help track your progress and keep yourself motivated when things get tough. Here are some of helpful apps for popular New Year’s resolutions related to sleeping well.

Sleep Better – While it may seem easy to say you’ll sleep better, sometimes you may need to look it from a different point of view. There are many mobile apps for iPhone and Android that help track your sleep patterns based on how often you were asleep, restless or awake during the night simply by placing your phone under your pillow or under the bed’s fitted sheet. You can find a list of the most popular apps that help track your sleep here. If you enjoy falling asleep to relaxing music or sounds, there are also many mobile apps for that as well.

Get Active – Leading an active lifestyle is an important part of sleeping well at night. The USDA says each week, adults should do at least 150 minutes of aerobic physical activity at a moderate level or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity. Make these minutes pass quicker by finding an exercise method you enjoy. If you’re a swimmer, biking or runner, there are numerous apps available that track pace, distance traveled and calories burnt. There are also apps for all kinds of workouts - yoga, weightlifting and even workouts you can do at home.

Eat Healthy – A healthy diet also plays an important role in getting better sleep. There are many small changes you can make to your diet to promote better sleep, such as replacing your afternoon caffeine fix with water or tea and shutting down electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bed. Using a food app on your mobile phone or tablet, such as Fooducate, Lose it! or MyFitnessPal, is an easy way to track and stay accountable for what you’re putting in your body each day. Many apps also allow you to record how much water you’ve drank and offer fun games to keep you drinking throughout the day.

If you want to sleep better throughout the night and wake up feeling well rested, come in and see us at Iowa Sleep. Our doctors understand the importance of sleep and overall health and will work with you to assess what may be the problem. Anxious about a sleep study? Read more about what happens during a sleep consultation.