The general rule of a good night's sleep is that it should last between seven and eight hours. But night work, stress, insomnia, and nightly gatherings often prevent us from sleeping the right amount of hours and getting enough rest.
Living with either chronic or transient insomnia can be difficult. Beyond feeling sluggish when you wake up, this can negatively impact your physical and mental health. The excellent news is that you can get help to sleep better.
You can utilize mobile apps that offer a variety of programs for a sound and healthy sleep. They include focused relaxation techniques, audio sessions with relaxing nature sounds, and other tools to get rid of insomnia and restore normal sleep patterns. Why not take use of what mobile apps offer since you’re likely to keep your phone next to your bed at night?
What is Journey: Sleep Insomnia Helper?
Since I have listed the above difficulties, I regularly test all kinds of ways to improve the quality of my sleep and feel more alert and productive during the day. This is especially important in autumn and winter, when tone and vitamin D are more than ever lacking.
Today, I'd like to share my review on an iPhone app that provides stress and tension reduction through meditation, music and sounds, chat with the coach, and overall training to have good sleep at night. It’s a personal sleep and wellness program called Journey: Sleep Insomnia Helper.
What is CBT-I and how to use it?
The Journey app employs cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques. It will teach you how to get a better night's sleep, quiet an anxious mind, build healthy habits, and use other methods for enhancing your quality of life. Сognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia app is an effective solution since it is frequently recommended as the initial treatment for adults with chronic sleep problems.
According to research, CBT-I may help people with insomnia, as well as people with physical problems such as chronic pain, or mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. Moreover, there is no evidence that CBT-I has negative side effects.
Review of the main features of the application
The Journey App is a science-based digital app designed for users over the age of 50, as many people at this age have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep and often wake up at night. However, the application is user-friendly and can be used by users of all ages.
Media library
The app's media gallery also deserves mention. Large library of sleep sounds, sleep music, sleeping stories – more than 500 audios wait for you there. It was great to see music of different genres. But sleep stories have become a personal treat, narrated by a soothing voice that tells good stories like “Journey to Italy” or “At the End of the Day”. All slips were recorded in the studio by professionals, which makes them unique.
Online chatbot and sleep coach
You'll receive notifications from the chatbot. By checking in on your energy and sleep each day, you can track your sleep and get personalized content. Anytime you'd like to assess your progress or lay out your strategy for getting enough sleep, you can chat with a sleep coach. In the chat room, a real sleep expert will respond to any queries you have while also offering advice and motivation to help you achieve restful sleep.
A sleep expert answers any user's questions in a personal chat (an answer can be received within a day, sometimes even within a couple of hours). An hourly consultation with a sleep coach usually costs $120-150, but in this application it is part of the subscription. Nice bonus.
Sleep Course
You'll receive a 30-day personalized sleep plan with exercises and detailed tips to help you achieve your sleep goals. It is founded on CBT methods. It will help identify and change negative patterns affecting your sleep and health.
How to Start using Journey?
Start from the home screen, where you need to pass an assessment, start the trial and enjoy choosing a sound to meditate on and fall asleep quickly. You only need 15 minutes a day for a noticeable effect.
For best results, listening to soothing music 30 minutes before bed is recommended. The secret to proper use is to practice regularly so your body and mind can adjust to it.
Subscription: how does it work?
You can take a free 7-day trial, but then the app requires a paid subscription, which is $19.99 per monthly membership and $99.99 for yearly plan membership. However, for new users there is now a discount and the price for an annual subscription in this case will be $49.99.
It's worth noting that since the subscription is through Apple, it's safe and easy to cancel.
What makes Journey unique compared to other similar apps
Journey: Sleep Insomnia Helper definitely provides original content. Every situation can be improved by listening to one of the 500+ meditations, interesting sleep stories, nature and life sounds, or music of different eras and genres.
The fact that the app was created in association with sleep experts and in accordance with the CBT methodology is equally intriguing.
How effective is Journey?
I can say that Journey: Sleep Insomnia Helper is definitely worth a try. For a more visual result, I would recommend using the application for at least one month: first of all, you need to complete a 30-day personalized slip course. And then experts say that CBT-I starts working after a couple of weeks, at least 6 weeks are recommended.
This way you are more likely to get results, such as fall asleep faster, reduce anxiety, and feel truly rested. The Journey app gave me a personal plan to sleep better. It would be great to also add even more visualized personalized data, such as a chart showing how my sleep is improving, or a sleep diary. So it would be nice if the app added this feature.
My habits have improved with the sleep course and I have even found new relaxing practices to calm down. Journey supported every step of the way with personalized advice and audio recordings that I might enjoy. I know that a lot depends on myself and I'm still at the beginning of the path to healthy sleep, but I'm very glad that I found an app that combines all the needed tools in one place.
