Sleeping has been something that we have always craved as
people. Applications can now track how well a person sleeps. Utilizing your
smart phone, you can now not only track how much sleep you get, but your motion
can be tracked as well which dictates your REM cycle. Even the sounds you make
can be tracked.
The application I would like to bring to your attention
today is Sleep Bot. I initially started using this application a year ago
during my sophomore year of college. I wanted to make sure I was getting good
sleep and I wanted to improve my sleeping habits so I downloaded this app.
Since then, it has gone through quite a few changes, and I feel that I now have
enough experience to discuss it
The application in itself is quite simple. You open the app
to see the amount of hours you got in sleep last night through swiping through
the screens, you can see the charts they offer you. I prefer the swiping to
access these things as opposed to a clutter of menus that some other apps offer
because I find that for this type of application, I don't need a lot.
On the first screen you can see the three functions that are
available to you. The first being Smart Alarm. Smart alarm sets an alarm based
on when you go to bed and how many hours of sleep you want. Based on those
facts alone, it will create an alarm to slowly wake you up and ease you into
the day. Personally, no alarm is going to 'ease' me into the day so I generally
stay away from that feature. The second feature is the track motion feature and
it is the one I use the most. I leave my phone plugged into the charger at
bedtime and then leave it in my mattress. It detects when I move and graphs the
entire thing. I find it useful to see if I ever reached my REM cycle. The final
feature is the record sound function. Since I don't talk in my sleep, and
nothing great really goes on around me, I don't record my sleep. I've had
roommates before and no one has come to me confessing I snore like an elephant,
so until then, I will shy away from that feature as well.
The screen to the right of it displays your sleep and how
much you got everyday. The date start time, end time, sleep earned, and how
much in sleep debt you're in are all displayed. Now, sleep debt is not as scary
as it sounds. You set how many hours of sleep you want every night. It defaults
to eight, but I lowered mine to seven. After you get sleep, it shows sleep
debt, which is the hours you wanted subtracted by the hours you actually got.
If the number is negative, it means you got more sleep then you intended.
The settings are pretty straightforward. It is worth noting
that you do have the option to backup and restore your information. This makes
it less stressful to deal with crashes and accidental wiping of the memory.
Some other unique settings are the bedtime reminder, which is self explanatory,
and the punch offset. Punch offset let's use select a predetermined measurement
of time, say ten minutes, and use that as the offset. Now, if you click the
button to start monitoring your sleep, it will not start until ten minutes
later. This compensates for how long it will take you to get to sleep. I see
mine to 10 minutes and have encountered no issues with it.
This application fit all of my needs to a 't'. I wanted an
app that wasn't cluttered. Don't get me wrong, I love my features in apps, and
I love having a lot of them, but with a sleeping app, I find I don't need much.
This app was easy enough to understand and use within five minutes and after
that, I was set. I recommend this app for anyone who wants a straightforward
app that has good features, but isn’t overly complicated to use.
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