15 Recommended Ways Your Phone Can Help You Sleep Better

Featuring podcasts, apps, and other things that will send you to dreamland.

We asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what helps them get actually restful sleep. Here are their favorite apps, podcasts, and more:

Jenny Chang / BuzzFeed

1. The Twilight app:

play.google.com

"This app darkens your screen according to the time of day and doesn’t take up a lot of battery. It used to take me at least an hour to fall asleep after being on my phone, but now I’m usually out within 10 minutes." — Erinmm

Android users can get the app (free) here. iPhone owners can use their built-in feature to reduce sleep-inhibiting blue light.

2. The Sleep With Me podcast:

sleepwithmepodcast.com

"Scooter, the podcast's host, always helps. I generally don’t make it through the intro! His voice and stories combined with some isochronic tones help me immensely." — cortiec

Find Sleep With Me on iTunes and SoundCloud, or at the podcast's website.

3. ASMR videos:

youtube.com

"They help me to get to sleep! You can convert them to MP3s if you want pure sound, though many have a visual relaxation factor as well as aural." — Brook Townsend, Facebook

4. A bedtime alarm (on or off your FitBit):

blog.fitbit.com

"It's easy to get caught up in Netflix or the internet and all of a sudden it's midnight and you're facing a morning of exhaustion, but setting a reminder to stop using screens and start getting ready for bed really helps." — Bonnie Cleveland Evans, Facebook

5. The Audible app:

itunes.apple.com

"This audiobook app has a built-in sleep timer so it will turn off after eight, 15, 30 minutes, and so on. It’s like being read to sleep when you were a little kid." — gothiral

Find Audible on iTunes or Google Play (both free).

6. A sleepytime playlist (made or borrowed):

Spotify

"Create a playlist of your favorite soft songs to fall asleep to. Listening to the same music every night trains your body to sleep when it hears those songs. I have been doing this for at least five years now, and it works great for me!" — madnay25

7. The Sleep Machine app:

itunes.apple.com

"I have this app for iPad and iPhone for travel and naps. I set the timer and go into a deep sleep." — StephieVee

This app ($1.99) is only available for Apple products, but Android users can download White Noise (free) instead.

8. The Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson app:

itunes.apple.com

"Sleep hypnosis! Hear me out. Andrew Johnson does hypnosis audio pieces for different issues, including sleep. It's such a convenient app; I use it all the time." — Marissa

Find Deep Sleep with Andrew Johnson on iTunes or Google Play (both $2.99).

9. Guided meditation videos that quiet your inner noise:

youtube.com

"I search 'guided meditation' on YouTube and fall asleep meditating. It has changed my life." — nicoleb41059fb99

10. The Headspace app:

itunes.apple.com

"No matter how restless I am, the meditations always knock me right out, and I wake up feeling refreshed." — Weese

Find Headspace on iTunes or Google Play (both free).

11. The Joy of Painting:

youtube.com

"Watching all the happy little clouds and big old trees appear on the canvas one by one, accompanied by Bob Ross’s soothing voice, never fails to make all the random thoughts in my head that keep me awake all night fade out." — sepp123

12. The Relax Melodies app:

itunes.apple.com

"This app allows you to play pretty much any sound that one can find soothing (and set a timer for how long you want it). I personally listen to the 'wind in trees' sound for two hours, but end up falling asleep in less than 20 minutes. " — lau81

Get it on iTunes or Google Play (both free).

13. The Sleep Cycle app:

itunes.apple.com

"This app lets me enter various variables (like whether I had coffee, alcohol, or tea that day, whether I'm stressed, how much activity I did, etc.), then keeps track of my wakefulness throughout the night, combines it with weather/air pressure/moon phase data, and tells me what factors are affecting my sleep." — Amy Yacullo, Facebook

Find Sleep Cycle on iTunes (free) or Google Play ($0.99).

14. The Welcome to Night Vale podcast:

welcometonightvale.com

"It's what I listen to before I fall asleep. Cecil’s voice is so calming, but the actual podcast is the weirdest thing ever, so be prepared if you want to get into it." — abagab11

Find Welcome to Night Vale on iTunes and SoundCloud, or at the podcast's website.

15. The Cleveland Clinic Stress Meditations app:

itunes.apple.com

"This is what I use. There’s a nighttime meditation that lasts 10 minutes and puts you right to sleep." — katiem446e64a93

This free app is only available for Apple products. Android users can download Calm (also free) instead.

Sleep tight!

youtube.com

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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