Sleep with your iPhone

There are a lot of hidden features of the Apple Health app  . A lot of folks haven't checked it out.  I use it to keep track of my meds, to monitor my weight and blood sugar tests and now to help me sleep!  To help you meet your sleep goals, you can use the Health app  to schedule times for unwinding at the end of your day, getting to bed, and waking up. You can create multiple schedules—for example, one for weekdays and another for weekends. For each schedule, you set up how you want iPhone to wake you by choosing an alarm and other options.

To reduce distractions and help protect your rest, you can enable Sleep Mode for iPhone. Sleep Mode simplifies your Lock Screen and turns on Do Not Disturb. You can schedule Sleep Mode to begin before it’s time for bed.

I always listen to the blues and read a bit before I sleep and I can add Wind Down shortcuts for these activities on the Lock Screen.

If you add Sleep Mode to your control center on the iPhone or iPad you can quickly turn Sleep Mode on and off.

To set up your first sleep schedule:

You can set up a schedule for waking up, winding down, and going to bed for one or more days of the week.

1. Tap Browse at the bottom right, then tap Sleep.
2. Swipe up, then tap Get Started (below Set Up Sleep).
3. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Let's say you need to make a temporary change to your sleep schedule:

1. Tap Browse at the bottom right, then tap Sleep.
2. Scroll down to Your Schedule, then tap Edit (below Next).
3. To adjust your schedule for going to bed and waking up, drag and .
4. Choose alarm options:
   • Turn the alarm and snooze off or on.
   • Choose a sound or vibration.
5. Tap Done.

If you scroll down to your sleep schedule you can also modify it or add a new schedule, say for the weekend.  If you tap Browse at the bottom right, then tap Sleep, then Full Schedule & Options you can do the following:

• Change when to turn on Sleep Mode before your scheduled Bedtime: Tap Wind Down, then select a time.
• Add or remove an activity for winding down: Tap Wind Down Shortcuts, then tap Add Another Shortcut or .

  Wind Down Shortcuts for activities like reading or listening to music appear on the Lock Screen when iPhone is in Sleep Mode.

You can also change your sleep goal and from Browse, view your sleep history.  There you can do any of these:

• View sleep data by week or month: Tab a tab at the top of the screen.
• Change the time span displayed in the graph: Swipe the graph left or right.
• View the details for a day: Tap the column for the day.
• Manually add sleep data: Tap Add Data in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Get cumulative sleep data: Tap Show More Sleep Data.

The time in bed reflects the time you are laying in bed hoping to sleep.  Your iPhone gets this information by analyzing when you pick up and use your iPhone.  Time asleep reflects the time you are actually asleep,  To use this you can estimate it and manually enter or you can use a sleep tracker on app on your Apple Watch.

Check out the Health App to use the features of your iPhone to help you sleep!