Whether you have a sleep apnea diagnosis or are just trying to figure out why you wake up groggy and grumpy every morning, there’s an app for that. The best sleep apnea apps can help you monitor symptoms to give you a better idea of what’s happening when you turn out the lights. Here are five of our favorites.
It’s important to note that no app on your phone can take the place of a formal diagnosis from your doctor and a supervised, comprehensive treatment plan. Sleep apnea is serious and can lead to a variety of life-threatening conditions. When sleep apnea is left untreated, the risk of premature death from any cause triples. Consider these apps as a way to supplement a doctor’s care or keep track of symptoms while you look for a diagnosis.
Sleep tracker apps (or dedicated sleep apnea apps) work in a few different ways. They:
Some of the best sleep apnea apps also measure how much exercise you get daily and may also be able to track diet, stress levels, and heart rate to see if your waking hours are affected by a poor night’s sleep.
All of these factors combine to help paint a better picture of your sleep challenges, which may lead to better diagnosis.
High-quality, dedicated sleep apnea apps are challenging to come by. For most sleepers, it is often best to focus on analyzing sleep itself rather than looking for an app that counts apneic events (times when you stop breathing).
Here are five of the best sleep apnea apps to help you keep track of what’s happening while you sleep.
Primarily billed as a gentle alarm clock, Sleep Cycle tracks your sleep to determine the best time to wake you. While this may seem like something your phone already does, this can also help you determine whether or not your CPAP or other sleep apnea treatments are working.
Sleep Cycle creates sleeping graphs that can be used over time to see if the quality and quantity of sleep is improving, or if your treatment protocols need to be tweaked.
This is the most popular sleep tracking app for the iPhone. SleepTracker monitors heart rate and sleep activity that contribute to a better understand of what’s going on at night. This app also offers pretty solid customer support and gets good reviews from its users.
This sleep apnea app was developed to specifically address insomnia and sleep issues. The developers eschew white noise machines and artificial waterfalls in favor of neurologically- based progressive relaxation to ease you into sleep.
Snoring is not just a nuisance to your sleeping partner: it can be a strong risk factor for sleep apnea and how severe it is. SnoreLab measures and records your snoring to come up with your personalized Snore Score
DreamMapper is one of the best CPAP apps out there. For people who are diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, a CPAP machine is the first-line treatment. Compliance can be hard, and DreamMapper knows that. This app helps determine if your mask fits properly, tracks a drop in apneic events, and allows you to set reminders to clean or replace CPAP machine equipment.
The sleep apnea apps above are great for gathering data, but nothing replaces a sleep apnea diagnosis from your sleep apnea dentist or regular doctor. A polysomnography completed in a sleep clinic measures all of the things the apps above measure, but also includes physiological data and an apnea-hypopnea score to determine the severity of your sleep apnea. Even mild sleep apnea carries with it significant risks and can become worse without treatment.
If you have questions about sleep apnea or the best sleep apnea apps, AZ Sleep can help you get a better night’s sleep. Get in touch today!