If we are being honest, sleep is not the easiest thing to come by. Some nights I can be dead tired —from not getting enough sleep the previous night, a long, stress day at work, or an intense workout – but despite how tired I am, sometimes it is ridiculously difficult to actually fall asleep. I have tried just about every trick in the book – reading before bed, white noise, a diffuser, counting sheep – and while they all work for a short period, eventually it does not. I have even tried combing multiple tactics together to see if I would get better results, and, again, that worked for a short while too. It is like once I get use to one thing, my body becomes immune to it and it no longer works in my favor.

With technology being as advanced as it is, I figured the next best thing to do would be downloading a sleeping app. My manager recommend the mySleepButton App. He read about it in a magazine and said that it seemed promising result wise. I figured I would give it a go and see if this might make a difference.

I downloaded the app that same day and gave it a try. When you initially open the app, you are welcomed to a timer that you can set for how long you want to use the app. Beneath the timer, you find a drop down menu with different options as to what you want to listen to as you fall asleep. Below the drop down menu, you will find a green button that reads ‘put me to sleep.’ Once you hit that, your journey begins.

So, the way this apps works is pretty straightforward. Once you choose what category you would like to fall asleep too (there is one that comes standard on the app for free, the others range in price from $5.99 to $8.99), you picture whatever is called out and this is what is supposed to put you to sleep. For instance, the voice may say something along the lines of “bread,” “beach,” “pine trees.” You are supposed to see each thing in your mind and think about that until the next item is announced. The purpose of this tactic is to distract the mind – when you are not thinking of all the things you need to get done tomorrow, or which bills need to be paid, it is much easier to fall asleep. While your mind wanders from one random thought to another, you relax and fall asleep much faster than you would normally. Sounds simple enough, right?

Before downloading the app, I did some research into what it was. Of course, I looked at the reviews and ratings on the app, and found many wonderful things. Upon further research, I found that O, The Oprah Magazine, gave rave reviews on this app, saying that “[it is] an easy little game to trick yourself to sleep.” Internal Business Times says that it “… hijacks thoughts to help sleep.” There were a few sour reviews left by some people, but they mentioned that there was a crackling sound throughout the night – they loved the idea of the app, and loved using the app aside from that one thing.

I have used the app going on a little over a week now, and so far I have not had any issues with it. I do not hear the crackling sound that other users have mentioned, or maybe I fall asleep too quickly to notice if there is a sound at all. I do fall asleep much quicker than before. Usually, it will take me an hour or so to fall asleep, but with this app, I fall asleep in a heartbeat! At first I did think it was a little crazy and had some doubts. Like how am I supposed to fall asleep thinking about bread? That is just going to make me hungry, not sleepy! To my surprise, it worked – I do not recall the app using food as a distraction often, so I was never left hungry!

If you have a difficult time falling asleep – no matter the reason – I definitely recommend trying this app. It is available for both android and apple products, and is constantly updated as the creators take into consideration the reviews left by users, wanting to improve the experience for both new and old users alike. Give it a go and let me know what you think about it!