Five Apps to Help You Fall Asleep Faster and Wake Up Feeling Rested

A good night’s sleep is actually as essential to your well-being as diet and exercise and just like eating healthy and working out, getting enough sleep requires a commitment and a shift in priorities. Here, our dietitian shares her favorite apps for getting some serious shut-eye. 

Sleep like an astronaut 
Developed by scientists using sleep-based research by NASA, Sleep Genius uses snooze-inducing melodies to help users rest smarter and longer. For those who are tired of waking up to a blaring alarm clock, the app offers an alarm featuring soothing sounds played in a five-minute cycle. Other features include a power-nap setting for a quick and restful mid-day slumber. 
$4.99
4-star User Rating
Requires iOS 7.0 or later
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.

Wake up refreshed
Sleep Cycle doesn’t mess around when it comes to getting a good night’s rest. Tell the app when you want to wake up, then place your phone face down next to your pillow before you conk out for the night. The app will track your sleep sounds, measuring your lightest and heaviest cycles of sleep, so that it can sound your morning alarm when you’re in your lightest phase of sleep rather than at an exact time. 
Free
Requires iOS 9.0 or later
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.

1, 2, 3, Nap!
Not only is Pzizz fun to say, it’s helpful when you need to recharge but don’t have the time to take a long nap. The team of engineers behind this app mix music, voiceovers, and science to create sounds that put you to sleep in a blink… or two. The app will wake you up after a quick power nap, or you can set the audio to run all night. 
Free
Requires iOS 8.0 or later
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.

The sound of sleep
Be the DJ at your own sleep party with Relax Melodies. Mix and combine more than 50 tunes and nature sounds to make the perfect bedtime soundtrack. Don’t have the energy to create your own mix? You can doze off to the most popular playlists made by other users. 
Free
Requires iOS 9.0 or later
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.

The unbeatable alarm
Alarmy is the world’s most annoying alarm clock—and the most effective for anyone who has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. The alarm won’t turn off until you shake it a certain number of times, solve a math equation, or get up and take a photo of a preset location (like your bathroom sink). 
Free on Android, $1.99 on iOS
Requires iOS 9.0 or later
Compatible with iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android.