In today’s fast-paced world, getting a good night’s sleep is another challenge. So, if you find yourself lying wide awake during the quiet hours of the night, you’re not alone. Insomnia is a common disorder affecting 30-50% of adults worldwide. And when people talk about insomnia, they often point the finger at their smartphone. Of course, binge-watching your favorite shows and movies, doom-scrolling Instagram reels, and playing violent/overstimulating games can disrupt your sleep cycle.
But the same culprit – your smartphone – can also help you find sleep. According to some studies, games that reduce anxiety and stress, improve cognitive focus, and provide calmness can help people with insomnia. In this blog, we’ll introduce you to some of the best games to help you fall asleep.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
10 Best Sleep Games to Play Before Bed
There are hundreds of apps designed exclusively to help people sleep better. Below is a curated list of the 10 best sleep games that can help you fall asleep better.
Sleep Town
Sleep Town is a great app that helps you develop healthy sleep habits by motivating you to go to bed and get up on time every day. This app has already been downloaded over 1 million times and was named the best app for personal growth in 2019.
The app works by setting your own bedtime and wake-up goals and giving you a reward building. The app builds beautiful buildings while you sleep. If you go to bed before your bedtime goal and wake up before your wake-up goal, you will see a surprise building in the morning. However, if you do not reach your goal, i.e., if you use your phone during your bedtime goal or wake up after your wake-up goal, your building will be destroyed, and you will also lose coins and income.
The app has a minimalist interface and over 70 building types to choose from. While you sleep, you also earn coins that you can use to beautify the city and buildings. You can also view your sleep statistics in your Sleep Town.
In addition, the app offers a bedtime reminder function and an alarm clock to help you stick to your sleep schedule. You can also set the sound and volume of your alarm via the user interface. There is also a unique “shake your phone” challenge to wake you up in the morning easily.
Another great feature of this app is inviting your friends and family to join the circle and set the same sleep goals. This way, you can encourage your loved ones to help build a sleep regime and contribute the energy to build your own wonders of the world in the app.
With this app, you can overcome your phone addiction before going to bed and develop a better sleeping habit.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Loona Sleep App
Loona Sleep is another renowned app specifically designed to help people sleep and for which the app won the Editors’ Choice Award on Google Play. The app helps you relax and fall asleep faster by using interactive coloring pictures, breathing exercises, positive affirmations, meditation, relaxing sleep games, bedtime stories, and soothing melodies.
The app is based on the idea that negative emotions you accumulate during the day can affect your sleep and lead to insomnia. The app, therefore, helps you to create a relaxing environment in which you can calm down and prepare for sleep.
The app offers you guided escapades that uniquely combine cognitive behavioral therapy, activity-based relaxation, storytelling, and sleep sounds. Each escape allows you to distract yourself from your worries and relax your mind. A magical 3D world is painted and combined with wonderful narration to distract your mind. The platform allows you to choose from various themes and stories, including fantasy, romance, adventure, and more. The app is also updated regularly.
The app offers comprehensive solutions to help you fall asleep effectively. It has received over 35,000 reviews in the Google Play Store. If you suffer from insomnia, you should definitely give the app a try.
Download on iOS Download on Android
Harmony
Harmony is another app that helps you relax and fall asleep by harnessing the power of harmonic notes and symmetrical patterns. It has a simple and intuitive user interface. To play, tap the squares on the screen and mirror the notes on the white line. The squares light up and create harmonious sounds when you tap them.
In the app, you can choose between different instruments, e.g., piano, flute, guitar, and more. There are also different levels of difficulty to make the game even more engaging.
The game relieves anxiety and stress by engaging your mind with simple and relaxing activities combined with shapes and music. With its calm and minimalistic interface and soothing sounds, the app immerses you in a world of tranquility and helps you fall asleep faster.
With over 1 million downloads and 80,000 reviews across all platforms, the app is one of the best sleep games. It has also been found to help people with OCD and anxiety.
Download on iOS Download on Android
Antistress
Antistress is a unique app that helps you relax and have fun by playing with different toys and games. It may seem like a boring game at first, but you’ll soon find yourself having fun. It was developed by JindoBlu, an Italian indie game studio.
The app features over 50 different toys and games, including bamboo chimes, water ripple, chalkboard, fidget spinner, sand painting, Newton’s cradle, bubble wrap, and many more. Each toy and game has its own sound and animation. It not only helps you to calm down but also distracts you from your worries.
The app has a super minimalist design and focuses on just one thing – your relaxation. The user interface is extremely simple and intuitive. You just have to tap on the toy or game to play. You can swipe, pinch, drag, and even shake your phone to interact with some of the toys and games.
The app is regularly updated with new toys and games. This ensures that you are entertained and relaxed with fresh content. The app also has particularly realistic vibrations that make playing even more stimulating.
With over 100 million downloads and 840,000 reviews, this app is a must-have if you struggle with anxiety and sleep problems.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Infinity Loop
The Infinity Loop app is a unique game with looping patterns and shapes combined with soothing sounds. The app is really easy to play, and you just need to rotate the shapes to complete the loop. There are endless levels of increasing difficulty, so you’ll never get bored.
The app reduces your stress and anxiety and helps you fall asleep. It also boosts your cognitive skills, concentration, and creativity. The app is based purely on logic and puzzles and reduces stress without putting you under pressure or tension to solve the levels.
The app also offers two modes: light and dark mode. In light mode, you have to connect the loose ends to complete the loop. In dark mode, on the other hand, you have to disconnect the loop again.
With its simple user interface and soothing music, the app is sure to help you relax and calm your mind. It has been downloaded over 10 million times on Google Play and has received 821,000 reviews. This game is available for both Android and iOS and is worth a try if you’re struggling with stress and sleepless nights.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Dream Walker
Dream Walker is another app that can help you fall asleep. The game is about guiding a sleepwalker (Anna) through her dreams and avoiding nightmares. The gameplay is very simple. You simply have to guide the sleepwalker alternately to the left or right, avoiding obstacles and enemies. However, the game becomes challenging in survival mode against the running tracker.
With over 100 levels with different themes and difficulty levels, including fairy tales, space, and horror, the game has helped thousands of people relax and overcome their stress.
The game helps you relax and have fun by exploring Anna’s dream worlds and collecting stars and butterflies. The app is full of fun, physics, architecture, and brain games. The game also features soothing music and harmonies.
Over 1 million people have downloaded this game from the Google Play Store, and there are thousands of positive reviews.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Flow Free
Flow Free is a puzzle game that helps you relax and challenges your brain to connect matching colors with tubes on a grid. With over 2500 free levels and different game modes such as Free Play, Time Travel, and Daily Puzzles, the game is simple, relaxing, and fun. It also features colorful graphics and soothing sound effects.
The game distracts from stress and calms the mind before bedtime, contributing to a good night’s sleep. It also improves cognitive skills, memory, attention, and problem-solving skills.
The app has received over 1.55 million reviews and more than 100 million downloads. With its smooth and polished interaction combined with a colorful user interface and fun sounds, it does exactly what it says – it helps you relax and have fun! Therefore, the app is a must-have before you go to bed.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Related Read: The 5 Best Sleep Headphones
Stack
Stack is one of the simplest games that can help you fall asleep faster. The game challenges you to stack wooden blocks on top of each other and build the tallest tower possible. It has a simple and intuitive user interface and simple but elegant graphics, accompanied by smooth animations and relaxing music.
The gameplay helps you to relax and relieve stress. The game requires no thinking and relies solely on your reflexes and precision.
The game offers several modes, such as endless mode, arcade mode, and multiplayer mode. It is a very rewarding and relaxing game. The app has received over 442,000 reviews and over 50 million downloads and has helped its users to have fun and relieve stress.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Viridi
Viridi is a relaxing game with simple and elegant graphics, super smooth animations, and relaxing sound effects. The app lets you grow and care for a pot of succulents in real-time. It has been specially designed to offer a moment of peace and quiet.
The game can help you fall asleep by providing you with a relaxing and rewarding activity that not only distracts you from stressful thoughts and anxiety but also provides peace of mind.
You can choose from a variety of pots and plants and even name them, water them, prune them, and watch them grow and bloom. It’s an excellent app to help you calm down, relax, and eventually fall asleep.
The app has been downloaded over 1 million times and has received a 4.1 rating from over 21,000 reviews. With its minimalist design, soothing music, and ability to create a calm space, it’s a great app to try for your sleepless nights.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Slumber
Slumber is not a game but an app that helps you fall asleep by providing you with a range of audio content, including sleep meditations, bedtime stories, soundscapes, and soothing music.
The app offers over 800 sleep-inducing stories and sounds that are updated weekly. They help you to reduce stress and anxiety and thus help people with sleep problems. This app is based on scientific research and techniques that improve sleep quality and promote relaxation. It uses mindfulness, gratitude, and suggestive hypnosis to help people with insomnia.
Another great feature of the app is that you have full control over the music and can customize the background music and sound effects to create your own relaxing atmosphere. The app is available for free for both Android and iOS and offers access to more features and content with a premium subscription.
The app has already been featured on Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and many other renowned platforms. It has received a 4-star rating on Google Play and has been downloaded over 100,000 times.
Download for iOS Download for Android
Bottom Note – Turn Your Phone into a Sleep Aid
While it’s a common belief that smartphones are responsible for stress, anxiety, and poor sleep, the same phone can help you relax and sleep better. You just need to find the right tools. We have listed the 10 best games to fall asleep that you should definitely try to get a good night’s sleep.
You should also limit your screen time to combat sleep deprivation. Limiting your screen time at night can also help you develop better sleep cycles and habits.
We hope these games and apps will help you with your sleep problems and insomnia. If you know of any other apps that might help other readers with their symptoms, please post them in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
FAQs about Sleep Games
1. Do sleep games work for everyone?
Sleep games are not suitable for everyone. This is mainly due to the fact that different people have different preferences and reactions to sleep games. Some people find sleep games relaxing and helpful, while others feel stimulated and distracted. The best way to find out is to try out these games and see what works for you. It is important to note that sleep games are not a substitute for medical or professional advice and should not be used to treat or diagnose sleep disorders or health conditions.
2. Are there any risks or side effects of playing games before bed?
Bedtime games generally have no side effects when played in moderation. However, over-stimulation from gaming can disrupt your sleep cycle, strain your eyes, and affect your mood and mental health. Playing relaxing, less stimulating, and calming games can minimize these side effects. Also, avoid games that contain violence, loud music, and overly stimulating features. You can play before bedtime without any risks or side effects by choosing the right games, limiting your play time, and maintaining a good sleep schedule.
3. How to find the best sleep games?
The best sleep games depend on your personal preferences and needs. Some of the features you should look for in the best sleep games are
- Games that match your mood, personality, and goal.
- Games that are simple, relaxing, and entertaining.
- Games with minimal effort, simple graphics, and soft background music.
