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    Why I Use the Sleep Better App by Runtastic

    Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. The Sleep Better app was purchased with my money. All opinions are my own.

    I don’t sleep well at night during the work week. When the alarm went off, I was very groggy and cranky. I felt rushed while I was getting ready for work. I finally reached my breaking point when a night of restlessness resulted in less than three hours of sleep.

    Not good.

    I did some research on sleep tracking apps. Many of them had free options which weren’t usable. Others were entirely too complicated to use even in the free version.

    Then I discovered the Sleep Better sleep cycle alarm clock app on Google Play (also available on the App Store). The free option is sufficient but I wanted access to my sleep diary and wanted to have the ability to change the Wake Up Window for the Smart Alarm.

    Here are a few of my favorite things about the Sleep Better app:

     

    Signing Up/Log In

    Sleep Better App Login

    One of my biggest gripes about apps is that many give you options to sign up/log in via Facebook, Twitter, or email. Thankfully, the Sleep Better app gives you two options for signing up/logging in: Facebook and Google. I chose Google because Google is life. If I can avoid having to use an email address and password to sign up/log in, I’m here for it.

    It’s the small things.

     

     

    Home Screen

    Sleep Better App Alarm Menu

    At the top of the home screen is your alarm time. You can scroll through the hour and minutes to create your alarm time. Directly underneath it is the Wake Up Window, which you set from the alarm menu.

    Below the Wake Up Window are six options that might affect your sleep:

    Worked Out, Stressful Day, Not My Bed, Ate Late, Caffeine, and Alcohol

    At the bottom of the home screen is the Start button, which you select when you’re ready to fall asleep.

     

     

     

    Alarm Menu

    Sleep Better Alarm SettingsOn the top right of the home screen menu is an alarm clock. Select the clock on the top right of the screen to get access to the alarm menu. At the top of the menu you can swipe right to turn the alarm on or swipe left to turn it off.

    You can control the volume of the alarm and choose to have the phone vibrate when it goes off.

    The Smart Alarm is the dopest part of the app. It allows you to set the time frame for within your set alarm time so you wake up in your lightest sleep stage. In the paid version there’s a default smart alarm setting of 30 minutes. The smart alarm for the paid version ranges from off to 45 minutes.

    The downside of the alarm menu is that you can only create one alarm. This pertains to both the free and paid versions.

    The alarm snooze option ranges from off to 20 minutes. Also, Alarm Sound features all the sounds for you to wake up to. The free version as a limited selection of sounds and in the paid version, all the sounds are unlocked.

     

    Sleep Diary

    Sleep Better Sleep DiaryThe Sleep Diary is a feature of the paid version. The diary is broken down by month. At the top of each month are the total nights of sleep and the monthly sleep average.

    Each night of sleep in the diary shows the time the Start button was selected to start the app, the total time of sleep, and the sleep efficiency percentage.

    Even with the app, I’ve only been able to get eight hours of sleep one time.

    insert loud sigh here

     

     

     

    Sleep Statistics

    Sleep Better App Sleep Statistics

    The paid version of the app has a section for sleep statistics which are broken down into four categories: overall, yearly, monthly, and weekly. This is a cool feature if you like to see your progress over time.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    The only thing I don’t like about the app is that you can only set one alarm at a time. This goes for both the free and paid versions. Other than that, I have nothing bad to say about it.

    To sum it up, the free version of the Sleep Better app is great on its own. However, if you want to view statistics, unlock alarm sounds, etc, it’s worth spending the $1.99 on. If you download and use the app, I’d like to read your thoughts on it.

    Sweet dreams.

    Updated March 31, 2017