Best health apps for sleep

Sleep. It’s something we all need, but something that can often be compromised by the habits of modern life.

Experts have described sleep as a hidden health crisis, and studies consistently associate shortened sleep duration with weight gain, risk of myocardial infarction, hypertension, and diabetes, when compared to individuals with normal sleep.

With World Sleep Day falling on 13th March this year, we’d like to raise awareness of the issues that can arise from poor sleep, as well as indicating safe, digital solutions that can improve sleeping habits for yourselves and your patients.

On behalf of NHS organisations, ORCHA tests more apps than anyone else, looking at effectiveness, safety, security and usability. Below are three top scoring apps that we’ve evaluated that can help patients improve their sleeping patterns, leading to improved concentration, productivity and well-being. Click the images below to watch the videos:

Sleepio, developed by Big Health Ltd., is designed to improve a user’s long-term sleep pattern by utilising Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, rather than using tablets or other forms of medical interventions.

Read Sleepio’s ORCHA Review here.

Sleeprate has been developed by Dr Anda Baharav, a sleep expert at Tel Aviv University, who discovered a connection between heart-rate, sleep and stress. The app was built to allow users to track their sleeping pattern, and it integrates with a number of common wearable devices.

Read Sleeprate’s ORCHA Review here.

Ambio Sleep Sounds, developed by verygoodapps.com, allows the user to create an atmosphere to aid the sleeping patterns of both themselves and others. Users can create atmospheres and mixes to fit with their individual needs, using either sounds created for Ambio, or sounds from the user’s own device.

Read Ambio Sleep Sounds’ ORCHA Review here.

Due to our continual re-review process, all app scores are subject to change. As such, we’d always encourage you to view our app reviews on our App Library, as this reflects Live data and app updates which are continuously changing. Our re-review process ensures that the most up-to-date information for the latest version of an app can be accessed via our App Library.