Do you have a sleep routine? Many people rely on artificial soundscapes in order to drift off, but technology has come a long way from the boxy white noise machines of the 1990s. Aside from the beautiful stereoscopic sounds of Thunderscape, Relax Melodies from Ipnos is a firm favourite of mine – and others if its 50 million downloads are anything to go by.
What started out as a clever soundboard, with the ability for the user to combine everything from rainfall to a ticking clock into their preferred sleep mix, has recently become a beefed-up experience with several more additions.
Stress
SleepMoves, for example, is a series of guided yoga-like sessions designed to help with winding down before bedtime, while the Meditations feature tackles anxiety, stress, tension, and other roadblocks to a good night’s kip. There is even a handful of children’s meditation sessions for restless little ones.
Relax Melodies’ sound journeys work as soothing soundscapes at any point during the day. My current go-to is Spaceship: the brown noise of deep space and occasional blips and bleeps of spacecraft are drowning out background noise so I can concentrate on writing.
This app is free to download but features are limited. For the full experience the premium version is available by subscription or a once-off lifetime payment.
