Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsExploring BreethePros & ConsFinal Thoughts
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Exploring Breethe
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts
In hopes of developing better sleep habits even amid the outside forces I can’t control, like small kicking legs, I turned toBreethe, a wellness app co-created with Lynne Goldberg, one of the topmeditationteachers in North America. It claims to help you get better sleep in addition to teaching you meditation. I was especially looking forward to trying the app’s meditations, sleep music, and sleep stories, but I was also eager to try sleep hypnotherapy, which I’d never seen on an app before and hadn’t previously tried.
I had tried and failed at other meditation apps in the past but found sleep music soothing on nights when I was especially restless. I’d only listened to one sleep story before, so I thought it was time to branch out. I used Breethe for about a month and found some of the app’s programs quite helpful—read on to learn about them.
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How I Started Exploring the App
Free Trial and CostWhile it offers a 14-day free trial, it then costs $13 per month, which seemed high to me. The yearly membership also seemed like a lot at $90, and I didn’t want to spend $156 for the lifetime subscription.
Free Trial and Cost
While it offers a 14-day free trial, it then costs $13 per month, which seemed high to me. The yearly membership also seemed like a lot at $90, and I didn’t want to spend $156 for the lifetime subscription.
As soon as I opened the Breethe app, I was met with soothing music and cool blue color tones and was prompted to choose a reason for using the app.
The Breethe app offers a meditation option but I focused on improving my sleep habits. The interface is user-friendly and suggests goals and programs that I found easy to navigate. When I clicked on “Sleep stories,” for example, there were several photos with different names and story lengths. When I clicked into a specific story, there was a little background about the story and the narrator. These offerings range from a few short minutes to over an hour long.
Sleep Stories
I have listened to sleep stories previously and found them helpful, so I thought I’d try a few on Breethe to see how they compared. Sleep stories on the app can be anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes long. I thought the stories had a nice variety of narrators.
First, I chose the story “A Stroll Through Central Park,” because I’m familiar with the location and was curious to hear where the story would take me. The narrator spoke clearly and slowly, much slower than I am used to in my fast-paced life. I got distracted and moved on to another story after a few minutes.
Travel StoriesI did enjoy other travel stories, though, featuring locations like Petra, Ireland, and Japan, to name a few.
Travel Stories
I did enjoy other travel stories, though, featuring locations like Petra, Ireland, and Japan, to name a few.
Hypnotherapy
I was most curious to try hypnotherapy because I was skeptical about it from the get-go. I often have trouble with meditation or focusing on any practice where I need to calm my mind and body, and I assumed I’d have similar trouble with hypnotherapy.
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The hypnotherapy sessions are at least 30 minutes long, so it’s possible I just fell asleep naturally.
I did, however, enjoy having something specific to focus on while falling asleep, rather than letting my brain run wild on its own.
One night while experiencing insomnia, I tried a hypnotherapy session specifically for insomnia with a female narrator. I was guided to picture myself on a beach, then from there, picture myself thinking about climbing a staircase. I fell asleep during this hypnotherapy and found myself in a dream within a dream, so the hypnotherapy impacted my sleep. I think the fact that I was asleep at all means the impact was positive.
Guided Tapping
I also tried guidedtappingvia the app, which is a technique that combines acupressure and psychology to treat things like anxiety and stress. It’s called tapping because you tap on endpoints of your body’s meridians, such as your collarbones, and several different points on your face while saying certain statements, such as repeating a mantra or affirmation related to whatever is causing you stress. I felt like it could be effective with prolonged use, but I only tried it once. I think if I went back to it I might appreciate its benefits and the direct focus it puts on specific thoughts.
Meditations and Music
Sleep meditations on Breethe range from two minutes (“Set Yourself Up for Sleep,” for example) to one hour (“Deep Sleep Meditation”) and guide users toward better sleep habits. Since meditating has been challenging for me, I stuck with shorter meditations such as “Set Yourself Up for Sleep.” This two-minute meditation instructed me to calm my breath and begin to relax my body.
The quick practice genuinely helped me calm myself down as I prepared for sleep.
The app also has “Music & Sounds” to help lull you to sleep. There are options like “serene harp,” “mystical flutes,” “sounds of rain,” and “white noise,” to name a few. These offerings are each a few hours long. I don’t like white noise, but I did enjoy the flutes and rain sounds. I’d leave them on until I fell asleep and the sound was quite soothing.
Pros and Cons
As someone who shares a bed with a spouse, I went into using Breethe knowing it was unlikely that I’d use the app every evening. But, it feels like a gentle and natural backup plan for nights I’m up late, over-tired, or simply having trouble winding down. Here are my pros and cons for the app.
ProsMany programs and options to choose fromHas meditation options for beginnersVariety of narrators for meditations and sleep storiesLength of time of programs ranges from short to longVisually calming with audio that sounds like a spaGoal-oriented with personal profilesConsAt $13/month the app is expensiveToo many options can be overwhelming for usersFinding the features that work best for you may take some trial and error
ProsMany programs and options to choose fromHas meditation options for beginnersVariety of narrators for meditations and sleep storiesLength of time of programs ranges from short to longVisually calming with audio that sounds like a spaGoal-oriented with personal profiles
Many programs and options to choose from
Has meditation options for beginners
Variety of narrators for meditations and sleep stories
Length of time of programs ranges from short to long
Visually calming with audio that sounds like a spa
Goal-oriented with personal profiles
ConsAt $13/month the app is expensiveToo many options can be overwhelming for usersFinding the features that work best for you may take some trial and error
At $13/month the app is expensive
Too many options can be overwhelming for users
Finding the features that work best for you may take some trial and error
As someone whose skin crawls anytime I attempt a guided meditation, I was happy to see that there were options as brief as two minutes to help me get in the right mindset before bed. The short meditations took the pressure off and allowed me to feel relaxed.
I enjoyed trying many of the sleep stories, too, and I have a renewed understanding of why we read to young children before bed.
It is calming and grounding to focus on the simple act of listening.
I also appreciated the profile feature, which saves your goals and the programs you’ve previously listened to. This feature makes it simple to navigate back to a meditation you found useful, for instance.
I would recommend the Breethe app because it combines elements of many different apps all in one.
Some apps focus only on mediation, and others add just a few sleep stories into the mix, but Breethe allows users to find out which programs work best for them and then have a variety of those programs to choose from.
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