Are you interested in getting the most out of your sleep? You can use your smartphone as a tool to help you maximize your rest. Sleep apps can do everything from monitoring your REM cycles to playing themed soundscapes to creating a space for you to record your dreams in a dream diary. There are a decent number of apps for this on the market, but my favorite one for iPhone is Dream:ON by YUZA. Dream:ON is free with the option to purchase additional soundscapes in-app.

If you are particularly interested in dreams, make sure to check out www.dreamviews.com. Dream Views is a community of dream enthusiasts who share stories and tips on topics such as lucid dreaming and dream journals. They have very active forums and a wiki to get beginners up to speed on the site’s lingo.

What is unique about this app is that it allows you to influence your dreams while contributing to our scientific understanding of sleep. Professor Richard Wiseman launched this app in 2012 as part of a dream study. How it works is simple: You pick a soundscape such as “Ocean View” or “Space Shuttle,” then put your iPhone on your bed and go to sleep. Your phone senses your movements to track your sleep cycle. When the app determines that you are in deep sleep, it will start to play the soundscape that you selected the night before. Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up in the built-in dream journal. What you write will be anonymously collected for analysis by Professor Wiseman’s team. Dream:ON also has a Smart Alarm Clock feature that plays your alarm when it senses that you are only lightly asleep in the half hour before you set your alarm. This makes waking up a much more pleasant experience, and can result in you feeling better rested even if you got slightly less sleep.

The first batch of information collected from Dream:ON has shown that the soundscapes really can influence your dreams. People who listen to “Relaxing Rainforest” are more likely to have dreams featuring greenery and lush plants, for example. Why not try out this dream app and see what you think.