Never has health and fitness been this convenient with the rise of wearable technology. The Apple Watch is just one of the many options.
Although health is not its forefront feature, the Apple Watch still has the capability to help you become your better and stronger self. From step count to heart rate, all of this data is just an app and a tap away on your Apple Watch!
But can it also help you get the best night’s sleep? Short answer: Yes. Unlike the pedometer and the heart rate monitor that’s already built into the watch itself, there is no sleep monitor that comes with the watch fresh from the Apple store. With the help of apps, however, sleep tracking is made possible!
The Best Sleep Apps for the Apple Watch
The Convenient Choice: AutoSleep Tracker | $4.49
From its namesake, AutoSleep automatically tracks your sleep. Pretty convenient since it doesn’t take much of your time to set up before bed. When you wear your watch to bed, you enable it to measure your sleep’s quality using your heart rate and motion.
Most of us wear our watches all day – so the only time to recharge it is at night! Fret not, you can continue time-tracking your sleep even without wearing your watch! It starts tracking your sleep the moment you charge your watch to the moment you turn it on in the morning.
The Budget-Friendly Option: Sleep Tracker by Sleepmatic | $2.99
The cheapest out of all the options, the Sleep Tracker app definitely gives you the bang for the buck. Similar to AutoSleep, the sleep tracking is automatic. It breaks down your sleep cycles to light and deep sleep so you can analyze how much restorative sleep you are actually getting throughout the night.
Additionally, you can wake up feeling refreshed with its smart alarm feature that wakes you up when your sleep is at its lightest in the morning. To ensure that you’re not late for work or school, you can pick a timeframe it should wake you up in.
The Data-Driven Pick: Pillow | Free with a premium fee of $7.99
With this freemium app, you have a choice whether to track your sleep automatically or manually. Although automatic is more convenient, the manual mode would be the more accurate option.
It presents you with many easy-to-read charts about your sleep and its quality. Additionally, the Snooze Lab feature is able to give you personalised recommendations and sleep experiments to improve your sleep.
Prepping Your Apple Watch for Sleep Tracking
Here are a few tips and tricks to make the most of your sleep tracking experience:
Enable “Theater Mode” to disable the raise to wake feature of your Apple Watch. This also prevents any notification from disturbing your snooze.
Charge your Apple watch as you get ready. If you are one to use your Apple Watch throughout the day and then for sleep tracking all through the night, chances are your watch will run out of battery. Charge your watch when you get home in preparation for slumber or in the morning as you get ready for work or school to ensure that your Apple Watch is ready for its day to night work.
Although not intentionally created for its sleep monitoring purpose, the Apple Watch is definitely a multipurpose product created with the versatility to meet your needs. Maximise its use to maximise a better lifestyle for you!