New York Times: A new smartphone sleep app, Wave Sleep, includes sessions with virtual bedside coaches who guide you to sleep with a “community” of fellow sleepers who share your bedtime
A new class starts, in real time, every half-hour from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., and you’re encouraged to book in advance. Each session runs for about 45 minutes, but the app won’t tell you that because, really, class ends whenever you fall asleep.
It’s a kooky idea, though co-founders Mason Levey and Brad Warsh are simply leveraging two basic tenets of establishing a healthy habit: Schedule it into your calendar, and have someone hold you accountable.
They are currently offering the app for free, but come March they plan to charge $10 a month for all-access programming. (As with any app, review the privacy policy before downloading.)
Each session is recorded, so you also have access to a library of non-live sessions, which most customers prefer to do. But people have had workout buddies or personal trainers to keep them honest since forever, so why not a real-time bedside sleep coach?
Wave’s first incarnation was as a music-focused mediation app, but it relaunched with a sleep focus after the founders realized that most people were using it to help them fall asleep. Each session is kind of a “greatest hits” of stress-reducing, mind-body strategies you may have heard about if you’ve ever participated in a wellness retreat or used a meditation app.
Get the full story at nytimes.com.
.
