Ranking up there with food, shelter and water, sleep can easily be considered an essential to stay alive and yet sadly it eludes many people. For as many people for whom sleep can be elusive, the reasons are nearly as myriad. It has sometimes been said that lack of sleep is the plague of modern times. America circa the 21st century provides ample opportunity for stress and stimulation, and in this environment it is hardly surprising that a good night’s sleep can so often seem an elusive prize.

 
The good news, however, is that loss of control over your sleeping habits is not an irreversible fact of life. Below are some strategies and techniques that have been used by others to conquer their sleep demons, and these approaches can work for you, too. None of these ideas involves the use of pharmaceuticals or other artificial substances – sleep is a natural biological function, and restoring your body’s innate ability to rest and restore itself only requires that you change your habits and lifestyle, so that your body can once again do what it was built to do naturally.

 

Dance to your Own Circadian Rhythm

Each human being, as well as every other kind of animal, has a natural biological cycle that regulates, among other things, the timing of and amount of sleep that a person needs each night. This is referred to as the circadian rhythm, and it is largely regulated by light – broadly speaking, we are awake during the day and we sleep at night. Because each person’s circadian rhythm has its own unique fingerprint, so to speak, it is possible that your sleep problems may be related to the fact you are not really respecting your personal biological needs; i.e. going to sleep too late, or too early, or waking up too early, or not getting a consistent number of hours each night etc.

 
The best way to discover your individual circadian reality is to experiment on the weekends or during vacations. Try going to sleep whenever you are tired, and do not use alarm clocks to wake up. Using this method you can find out a lot about your own personal natural circadian rhythm, and you can then try to adjust your lifestyle accordingly if you come to discover that your sleeping reality is too far from your body’s natural ideal.

 

Protecting and Pampering Your Stomach

There are a number of general rules about what you should or should not consume in the immediate hours before you retire for the evening. Heavy foods and spicy foods are definitely to be avoided – when you have bad dreams after consuming these foods at night, that is your body trying to tell you something. While these items can cause disruption in your sleep patterns, a light snack taken not long before bedtime can actually have the opposite effect. If you go to bed hungry it can cause insomnia; but if you ingest foods high in tryptophan and carbohydrates it can help your mind to relax and improve your chances of falling asleep. It is also important to avoid stimulants such as caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine before hitting the sheets.

 

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

Melatonin is a chemical produced by the pineal gland that helps to cause drowsiness and peaceful feelings. It has been discovered that light inhibits the body’s natural production of melatonin, while darkness encourages it, and this is a key reason why we need darkness in order to fall asleep naturally and easily.

 
But this darkness should be as close to absolute as possible. Streetlights and passing cars, bedside digital alarm clocks, night lights, and computer monitors are just a few examples of light contamination that can pollute your bedroom space and disturb your sleep. And of course open blinds or light-colored drapes can allow the light of the early morning sun to filter in easily. It is important to eliminate all of these sources of light if possible – use darker curtains, cover your windows with blackout paper, and go back to using an old-style alarm clock if you need one. You can also buy a black mask to cover your eyes; other options for covering could include a black sock or other piece of dark clothing, or a second pillow to put over the upper part of your face.

 

That Same Old Dull Routine

Whatever it is that you like to do before you go to bed, you should try to do the same thing every night. Brushing your teeth, writing in your diary, reading, listening to relaxing music, having a light snack – whatever your routine is before lying down each night, try to stick to it with as little variation as possible. What happens is the body comes to associate this routine with impending sleep, and it responds by gradually shutting itself down. The one unifying characteristic of your pre-bed activities is that they should be things that can be done quietly and without excessive mental or physical stimulation. One thing you should definitely NOT do is take your problems with you to bed at night. Worry about solving those situations tomorrow.

 

Let Your Mind and Body Relax

Some methods for relaxing the body and calming the mind before sleep include:

 

 
Whether you practice these activities just before going to bed or while you are lying down getting ready to sleep, all are based on the idea of stilling the body and mind to remove muscle tension and/or stressful thoughts.

 
Insomnia at its root is a disorder of excessive attention. That is, you are actually focused on the fact that you can’t go to sleep, and this only reinforces the problem. Methods like meditation and related forms of relaxation can help to solve this problem by taking you in the opposite direction. They help you gradually let go of everything you are holding on to in your mind and body, and as you empty yourself of tension and distraction your body’s natural inclination to sleep is free to assume control once again.

 
If you do not already have a preferred meditative or relaxation practice, the best idea is to experiment with different methods (detailed methodologies and descriptions can be found on many websites) until you find something that works for you. But some kind of a pre-sleeping relaxation routine should really be mandatory for all insomnia sufferers.
 

The Transformative Power of Sound

You may have heard that silence in the bedroom is important for proper sleep, and this probably seems like a common sense notion. The problem, however, is that when we are sequestered in utterly silent environments, our hearing becomes more sensitized to any noises that might penetrate those spaces. So if your spouse should start snoring, or the cat is scratching on the door to get in, or there are cars going by outside, just to give a few examples, in your hypersensitive state brought on by excessive silence you are likely to wake up immediately and have difficulty returning to sleep.

 
Sounds played in your bedroom at night can help to mask these kinds of environmental distractions. White noise generators are often recommended because they tend to help the mind reach a more relaxed state while covering over any other sounds that might be coming in from the outside. White noise is a mixture of all the sound frequencies that are within the range of human hearing. Because this sound has no clear definition or rhythm, the mind has nothing to grasp on to, and as a result the mind of the listener becomes more still and relaxed. The relationship between this process and the relaxation techniques mentioned above is obvious, and that is why relaxing sounds in conjunction with meditative-style activities can make a doubly effective remedy for sleeplessness. Other than white noise, other choices that can facilitate relaxation include the sound of ocean waves, soft music, or soothing nature sounds.

 
One of the best and most effective forms of aural relaxation available is the SleepStream application for iPhone. SleepStream, which has now morphed into the new and improved SleepStream 2, is a program of sounds that induce relaxed states conducive to sleeping. Designed by an expert team of hypnotherapists, audio professionals, and sleepologists SleepStream and now SleepStream 2 have been downloaded over 600,000 times, making it the leading choice for sleep and relaxation aid by iPhone customers.

 
The SleepStream technology delivers a potent combination of nature sounds, specially designed audio streams, Nero-linguistic programming, and soft music, overlaid with powerful binaural beats. The latter are based on the discovery that when two different tones are delivered to opposite ears through headphones simultaneously, it creates a neural illusion of rhythmic beats in the mind of the listener. It has been demonstrated scientifically that this kind of inner rhythm is extremely effective in bringing on brain states that are associated with relaxation, greater focus, and sleep. SleepStream has been meticulously designed to take advantage of this discovery, as well as everything else that is known about the power of sound to bring on peaceful rest and sleep.

 

Now Stop Reading and Go to Sleep!

All of the above recommendations are based on the successful experiences of thousands who have conquered their own sleeping disorders. Each person of course is different, but by following some combination of the above tips and advice on how to beat insomnia, you are almost guaranteed to discover that a good night’s sleep had been waiting for you just around the corner all along.

A small number of users have been reporting that their downloads disappear every time they open SleepStream 2 Pro. We had to change the default SleepStream 2 storage path in version 1.4 to comply with the new iCloud guidelines, and consequently we had to move files from the old to the new destination. The reported error is most likely because the app failed to move these files at startup. In most cases this is easy to fix, and involves a complete reinstall of SleepStream 2.

Here’s how.

1. On your Home screen, locate the SleepStream 2 app.

2. Tap and hold down on the SleepStream 2 icon. After a few seconds your screen will start to “wiggle” and an X will appear next to each of the Apps you’ve installed via the App Store. Tap the X on the top left corner of the SleepStream 2 icon.

3. When prompted, select Delete.

4. Head to the App Store and re-download SleepStream 2. This will be free, since you already own the app.

5. Once SleepStream 2 is installed, open the app and go to the download section. To re-download all your previously purchased items, press the restore button in the upper left corner. All your previously purchased items will re-install free of charge. Re-download all the free material by tapping on each item you want to install, and press the install button.

Happy SleepStreaming, and please contact us if you have any questions or comments!

- Explosive Apps

Here are Explosive we have been working on our first iOS game for quite some time. And since it’s coming along very well we are very excited when presenting you guys with this introduction to the project. The idea is to give you a quick feel for the concept and art style. But remember this is a w.i.p project and all details are subject to change.


Zest! is the name of the game and in short you play as one puzzled piece of fruit that embarks on an adventure of a lifetime. There will be many twists and turns, challenges in every size imaginable and tons of fun along the way.



As Zest! you travel by launching yourself through the air and taking advantage of different gadgets scattered throughout each level. I’m not going to list all of these gadgets here, but I will name a few.


There will be portals that take you from one spot to another, boosters that gives you extra boost (surprise!), doors that are on timers, spikes that will squish you, heat that will burn you and treasure to gather all over the place. But one of the cooler features are the gravity switches.



Remember that twist? This is the first taste of that. When hit, the gravity switches will flip the world in the direction indicated. This can be 90 degrees left or right, or 180 degrees upside down.


Activate one and you’ll suddenly find the ceiling to be wall, wall to be ground or ground to be ceiling. This rotation of the world does not only have a gravitational effect on Zest!, but also on all the other loose objects. So watch out and use them to your advantage.



The adventure that lays ahead of you may look like a stroll in the park at first glance, I can assure you it’s not. Zest! is a roller coaster ride against time and stamina so you better make sure you clear a level before you run out of juice!


So there you have it, a quick tease of Zest!. From now on I will keep you guys posted not only on the game, but also the tools and work processes we use while developing Zest!. Talk to you guys soon!


Extra: Zest! Wallpaper for your iPhone or iPod touch. 3Gs and earlier generations (480×320). iPhone 4 Retina Display generation (960×480).

It’s no secret that we are working on a iPhone game of our own. And I promise that we’ll reveal more details from Zest! very soon. But until then I would like to promote two of my absolute favorites.

First up is The Incident. The graphics are very nicely done, but the main reason for me enjoying this game is it’s simplicity and the bizarre backdrop. The fact that they have gone the extra mile and added something special on top of the gameplay shouldn’t go unnoticed. And the fact that it reminds me of the amazing Trash Panic doesn’t hurt either.

The second game is Game Dev Story. Video of the game in action here. The title says is all. You are in charge of a game development company. And that should be a sale right there. Extremely addictive.

So why not take a break and play some games?

A bunch of sites are reporting that the iDOS emulator made it through to the App Store yesterday. But in these days you have to move really fast as the app was pulled back in what seems like record time. From what I understand it got pulled because the emulator came with the two games Dig-Dug and Ms. Pac-Man. I’m not sure what the creators of iDOS was thinking or how it got past Apple in the first place. Hopefully they’ll fix that so the rust of us can have a go.

You can read more on this over at Engadget and check out more of what people have been able to run at Touch Arcade.

Royal Pingdom has interesting article up with a lot of fun graphs comparing the number of Internet users back in good old 2000 with today’s 2010. It sure didn’t feel like we were a mere 361 million Internet users back then. Click here to ogle the facts.

And since it’s a graph day I have another one from Business Insider on App numbers in the different App Stores. Looks like Android is seriously gaining on Apple. Check out that graph here.