mySleepButton 4+

I have trouble sleeping when I need to. Before I got this app, I thought I had to thoroughly exhaust myself in order to sleep when the rest of the world sleeps. My brain yapped at me until I was too tired to think, which might be about 5 AM. That stinks when you have to wake up at 5:30 for school. Now, I use my sleep button. I have literally never gone through the whole timer without falling asleep. I even experimented with reducing the time by 1 minute every night, so night 1 is 30min, night 2 is 29, etc. I got down to 16, before I kinda unconsciously noticed it stopping, so that was the point I was almost gone but not quite. I don't use it every night, but when the brain is chatty, especially if I have a pressing need to wake up on time, it's the way to go. I feel like the time between images has increased, which is annoying, but that's a minor gripe. I have been blind since birth, so I find the scenes pack hard to visualize. Too many moving parts. I love using the simple things pack, and I imagine the items as experienced with other senses. It says a loaf of bread, I vividly imagine picking up a loaf of bread, long and rough, and biting and tasting it. This works just as well as it does for visual thinkers, though scenes are too much for too little time and trying to relax. I had major doubts at first, but this is my favorite mental exersize.

I have a rare and severe circadian rhythm sleep disorder and a prolapsed bladder that makes me get up every two hours to pee. This app has been life changing for me. I get up to pee, lay back down, tap the button and start thinking about earmuffs and rivers and trees and other ordinary things, one every seven seconds, and after fewer than a dozen things, I'm asleep again.

I also am on the aphantasia spectrum (I am not able to make pictures in my head) so I was afraid this app wouldn't work for me, but it does. I just let the objects appear in whatever senses are available to engage with it. If the word is rose, I feel soft petals against my face as I smell the rose. If the word is river, I hear rushing water and feel it cold against my feet. If the word is earmuffs, I feel them soft against my ears and hear the world muffled. You don't have to be able to visualize the things for this app to work.

This is the first sleep app that has worked for me and I’ve tried many. I often have racing thoughts at night that keep me awake, but this app and this method allow me to turn them off enough to fall asleep. It’s amazing to say the least- I tell everyone about it. I’ve been having two issues, however. I haven’t been unable to figure out why, but for the last few nights, the sound stops before the timer is even halfway through. I can’t hear any words or scenes but if I look at my phone I can see the timer still counting down. Also, if I close the app (because I have to get up or something) and then try to start again, the timer begins at where I left off instead of resetting itself. So, if I stopped it with 12 minutes left, closed the app and restarted it again I’d only have 12 minutes on the timer instead of 20. I’ve read that some people have to restore their purchases every night so I’ll try that tonight, but it’d be ideal if the app worked every time without having to do so.