An analysis of sleep apps suggest they may not be going far enough to help people understand the importance of a good night’s sleep, reports Voice of America.

There are hundreds of sleep apps available for Android devices or iPhones, most use soothing sounds to help people fall asleep. But researchers say less than half of the apps they looked at offered any “general information about sleep” or explain the hazards of not getting enough sleep.

“We were surprised that some of the apps didn’t say anything about the recommended amount of sleep someone should get on a regular basis,” saidUniversity of Illinois kinesiology and community health professor Diana Grigsby-Toussaint, who led the new analysis with colleagues at the New York University School of Medicine . “And there weren’t a lot of apps that had any information about the benefits of sleep.”

They also looked at whether the apps “include reminder messages to help users meet their sleep goals,” where they linked to social media so that the user could get positive reinforcement from friends, and did they provide information about what habits enhanced or interfered with sleep.

Read the rest at www.voanews.com