Between being a baby boomer in the autumn season of life with all the changes that entails, and in the continual throes of the Sandwich Generation, constantly juggling crises here and there, I am often battling the same sleep issues I know many of you also know all to well. Many's the night, either when I head for bed or in the middle of the night, that I have been busy searching for ways, means and tricks to fall asleep! 

Three of my favorite tips are getting up to do a Bible study, listening to quiet praise and worship hymn songs and music, or, what works even better for me, is listening to a quiet sermon as I rest – usually helping me to nod off within five – fifteen minutes.

I know that other boomers prefer some type of white noise. I have to admit, the sound of quiet waves on the beach or the ripples in a creek can definitely be very restful to me, while my grandsons often go to sleep to the sound of a loud fan which blocks out other noises that may keep them awake. 

Recently, one of my grandkids was having a tough day and I went searching for some iPhone apps to help him relax. Lo and behold, there are at least three great white noise sound apps available for free, with extended options for a small fee (though the free ones were all I would need) – all of which can be useful ways to help you fall back asleep when you are waking up in the middle of the night, as well as helping you fall asleep in the first place. Here are the apps we discovered. I've included the opinions of my grandkids and myself just to give you a "flavor" of the apps but please realize this is a very personal "opinion type" of decision. What I might hate, you could easily love, or vice versa. In fact, I'd LOVE to hear what you love OR hate.

1. Sleepmaker Waves Free - Our personal grade: A

I liked that it has a volume control right off the bat, making it easy for me to adjust the volume for the app without adjusting the volume of the cell phone. For that matter, by using both volume controls, you can make it even quieter if you'd like. It provides a timer by clicking on the letter "I" in the circle. It offers five sound choices in their free app:

• Gentle waves into rockpools - This sound seems to start with one loud crash, then it is mostly quiet ripples with the occasional medium sounding wave – I liked it.
• Medium waves onto shore – steady waves, some louder, and not too fast. I also liked this one. I felt like it was a nice one to listen to but if the occasional crashing might wake you up, you might prefer the gentle waves better.
• Heavy surf crashing into shore - these were louder but also more relaxed, soothing, and steady. Not so much crashing as just the calm back and forth of the surf. I would turn the sound down a bit and use this. Really liked it.
• Heavy big surf and waves - this was definitely a bigger surf. Still, it was fairly steady and relaxing. Both this and the heavy surf make me want to roll over on my towel and soak up some "rays."
• Underwater ocean scuba bubbles – this is just bubbling. Very quiet and very peaceful. I personally prefer the waves, but if you are looking for something very quiet, this was great.

2. Relaxing Sounds Of Nature Lite – Our personal grade: A 

There were several sounds I would use including Musical Waterfall and Beach – Cape Cod. This one was especially nice because it had more than just ocean sounds.  It has several lovely wallpaper pictures to go with the sounds, an option to save favorites, and a choice between night, quick night, and wakeup timer. It even has a soundboard to allow you to create your own sounds and save them.

• Crickets Chirping – Personally, I'm not a big fan of crickets chirping. We had them in our house one time for a few weeks and they kept waking me up. Also, this is a loud and steady sound. But if you like the night sounds, it might be good for you.
• Night Ambience – This was crickets +. Also a bit loud and non-stop but in a different tonal range – lower.
• Forest (England) - I would have liked this except for a ??? cuckoo, maybe, that kept making it's noise then stopped. Rather irritating.
• Eastern Australia – Mostly birds singing. They were pleasant, but every so often there'd be a strange loud one that I think would tend to jolt me awake.
• Grasshoppers – Did you know grasshoppers make noise? I sure didn't. Kind of sounds like they stand around and shake a rattle every so often. Fairly peaceful but the shaking would jolt me.
• Jungle (Thailand) - Very peaceful sounding with various birds trilling. OK but again, the random sounds might be a bit jolting when you are trying to sleep.
• Mountain Ambience – Again, very peaceful and restful, but if you are trying to sleep there are some louder bird trills that could be an issue.
• Musical waterfall. I admit it – running water is a favorite of mine. It is just so peaceful. I remember being in Hawaii with a knee that was giving me grief thanks to arthritis. I couldn't get around too much, but it led to one of the highlights of the trip. Since it hurt too much to walk to a less expensive restaurant, as we usually did, we would eat every morning in the hotel restaurant. It had a lovely waterfall-style fountain with geese in it. It was the most relaxing, enjoyable way to while away a breakfast hour and this reminded me of that. Such lovely family memories!  Definitely liked it!
• Tropical Rainforest - Very nice and my grandsons will enjoy listening to the different animals, but there were too many times of a bit louder trill to use it at bedtime for us.
• Light Rain – It was steady, but not my cup of tea.
• Rain on a Tarp – i I liked this a bit better – a little more variety without to much variation. If you like rain, I think you might enjoy it.
• Beach (Cape Cod) – My oldest grandson liked this the best. An occasional wave and a hint of seagulls but fairly soothing overall. He listened for 15 minutes, then had me turn it off and went right to sleep – definitely a good sign!
• Beach (Australia) – Slow and steady waves but the seagulls were a bit louder and came in and out. That tends to jolt me a bit.
• Whale Calls – Water rippling, some quiet waves, along with a quiet whale call periodically. It was nice. If you are a baby boomer trekkie (Star Trek Fan), it will probably bring back some fun memories of Star Trek 4.
• Clock – IRRITATING! Just a steady tick tock and LOUD. I know they recommend a clock with a brand new puppy, so it might be good for them or those who grew up with these type of clocks. I, personally, have always hated them, so it definitely gets a thumbs down for me. I have a feeling my dad would have liked it, though.
• Melody – A peaceful quiet wood-wind instrument playing a soft melody.
• On Train – Ohhh, my husband would have loved this, as will any of you who are train buffs – whether ??? or the real McCoys! You feel like you are sitting on an older train as it makes its way down the long train track.
• Piano – A lovely classical song playing however an orchestra did come in and out. If you like music, it was nice, but for me, it would tend to wake me up. 
• Monastery – Voices chanting musically – pretty much the same tune over and over.
• Calm Melody – Piano music played quietly. Not quiet as steadily quiet as I would need but it was pretty.

3. White Noise Lite – Our personal grade – B 

This one offers lots of sound options, but none were ones I am likely to use. I allows you to make your own sound mix as well. 

• Beach Waves Crashing – Just steady small waves, occasionally a bit louder and a bit fast, but overall not bad. 
• Thunder Storm – Thunder crashing – Since the real McCoy can wake me up, this isn't one I'd use.
• Extreme rain pouring – Definitely pouring rain but with the sound turned down it was rather nice and cozy.
• Crickets Chirping – Again, not one of my favorite sounds but I think I preferred this one to the crickets in Relaxing Sounds – Nature
• Grandfather Clock – Another ticking clock that would serious annoy me but probably not my dad.
• Chimes Chiming – I once stayed at a friend's house and in my guest room the wind chimes she had all along her porch kept me awake all night long. She, however, loved the sound and slept like a baby. So depending on who you take after, you might love these or hate them.
• Oscillating Fan – My grandkids usually go to sleep to the real McCoy so I know this sound can help. I prefer waves, though, I must admit.
• Airplane Travel – If you are one who sits down in the airplane seat, hears the engines roar, and immediately fall asleep, this is probably perfect for you.
• Train Noise – Another railfan delight! This was a bit bumpier track, so I think I would prefer the one with Relaxing Sounds of Nature, but it was nice to hear.
• White Noise – Seriously irritating to me. Sounded like a gigantic balloon with the air being let out.

One caveat to all of this. I received a text message in the middle of this process. My text messages are set up to beep me. I rarely get them at night – only if it is one of my family members. But if you are trying to nap during the day or get text messages at night, they will beep through the sound, probably waking you up. For me, that means I might not want to use it for a grandkids' naptime, although, once they are asleep, they pretty much sleep through anything, so we shall see. 

All in all, there are some great choices from all of these iPhone white noise sound apps. I'm going to keep 1 and 2 and use them for grandkids, while I keep listening to my verse by verse sermons. How about you? If you try any of these intriguing iPhone app white noise ways to help you fall asleep when heading for bed or up in the middle of the night, we'd love to hear your opinion. And if you have other tools or tricks of your own to help us fall asleep, we'd love to hear about them. As busy boomers in the Sandwich Generation, caring for the elderly parents in the family along with grandkids, we definitely need all the help we can get, don't you agree?

Kaye

P.S. If you don't have an iPhone and don't want to buy a white noise sound generator, you might try a white noise cd or mp3 download. For more information about an ocean white noise sound cd click here. And to find out more about an hour-long ocean white noise mp3 download, click here.  Aloha!

As I wrote a while back, I switched from a Pantech Duo to a Blackberry Pearl cell phone last June as it had an antenna strong enough for the apartment I was living in.  While the Pearl was better for phone calls and the antenna was definitely stronger, the phone itself was not the greatest when it came to texting or working on the internet.  In addition, the keyboard colors were harder for me to see than my Pantech Duo. (Can you tell I REALLY missed my Pantech Duo!!!)  On top of which, I was REALLY tired of forgetting to take the two steps necessary to prevent acccidental 911 calls and then discovering my phone had called the emergency number yet again. Don't get me wrong. The Blackberry Pearl was a big help in that apartment and it has a lot of great qualities. I am keeping it as a back up and in case I need some of its specific business options. It is, however, not one of my favorite cell phones.

I was, therefore, thrilled when a dear friend, who had recently upgraded to the iPhone 3g,  gave me her old original iPhone. It still works wonderfully but it doesn't have a couple of features she really needed. Since I don't need those particular features, I'm in iPhone heaven!

First I had to learn some basics. Once those were mastered, I moved on to one of the really fun features of the iPhone – Apps (mobile applications). Guess what! I discovered there are plenty of apps for the Sandwich Generation. I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you. Naturally, since I am always on the lookout for great ways to save money, most of these apps are free, or have a free option. I've linked the apps to their primary website for your information (as well as an opportunity to see other apps some of the creators have designed), but all of these are found and downloaded directly from iTunes – either using your computer or your iPhone.

Caregiving:
Pocket First Aid & CPR  I wrote a review about this First Aid app a while back. It's one of the few on this list that is not free but it's also one of the apps I feel is well worth buying!  $3.99

UMMS Medical Encyclopedia – The University of Maryland Medical Center has a great looking medical information iPhone app with topics such as symptoms, injury, disease, surgery, nutrition, poison, and more. FREE

If you or an elderly parent can't sleep, and are looking for different ways to fall asleep but don't want to listen to a sermon or music, you might like to try some "white noise." Two apps that offer that option are White Noise Lite and Sleep Machine Lite. Both of the LITE versions are FREE.

I found several more Caregiver app ideas from CaregiverLand, a new-to-me caregiving site. The suggestions include an interesting app from Johnson and Johnson's called CareConnector. "The CareConnector is designed for caregivers on the go. It gives you information at your fingertips to make caregiving easier." You can use it to store information including insurance numbers, medication information, etc. I have added this to my iPhone but plan to be extra careful about what information I store as there are identity theft and security concerns for cell phones as well as computers. Not to mention the fact that cell phones do get lost or stolen at times. If I do store vital numbers on it, I plan to encode them in a special way I can understand, but no one else can. FREE

Grandparents:
 
If you'd like to have some iPhone apps to share with your grandchildren, perhaps while waiting for dinner at a restaurant, there are a lot of great options out there, including:

Brain Challenger – Play 12×12 Lite – A multiplication practice game for four years old and up that is simple yet fun. The lite version covers the 2x to 5x. The full version has 2x to 12x. The LITE version is FREE. The PAID version is 99 cents.

Basic Math – a simple math problem "game" for ages four and up. Basic Math is FREE. Basic Math Deluxe is $3.99.

Freddy Fraction – A little honeybee who is trying to get across the room by moving into the hole with the correct fraction or decimal that matches the number on the right. A fun way to help your grandkids practice fractions and decimals.

My Paint Free is a cute little drawing program that reminds me of an Etch a Sketch, except you rub the eraser to clear the screen, rather than shaking the iPhone.

Hangman Classic  – A fun version of the ever popular word game that doesn't require a paper or pencil. The LITE version with ads is FREE. The FULL version with no ads and more word lists is 99 cents.

Tic Tac Toe by Optime – Gives you the option of one or two players. Easy and fun to play by yourself while waiting or with your grandchildren. Please note: There is a network option which allows you to play with other people you don't know. You might not want your grandchildren to select that option. Tic Tac Free is FREE.

Wooden Labyrinth 3D – A very cool iPhone app your grandkids and you will love. It's based on one of those wooden maze boxes with holes. The goal is to get a marble through the maze without dropping into one of the holes. It is so realistic looking you'll go wow! FREE

Sandwich Generation:

TV Guide has an app that I really like. It works well, including providing TV show listings, and can be quite handy. There is another television app from i.TV.  It doesn't seem to work quite as easily as the TV guide app BUT it could be quite handy for a long distance Sandwich Generation caregiver. You could set the one you like best for your own area, and have the other set for the elderly parent who doesn't live near you. Then, if they need help finding a show, you are all set to help them. FREE.

Kindle – This book-reading software is quite handy for everyone, but particularly those of us who might need to spend prolonged and/or unexpected time sitting in doctors' offices or emergency rooms without enough time to grab a book. The nice part is that Kindles are great ways to save money as the Kindle versions of books are often less expensive than a physical book. And the best part about this app is that it is FREE.

PocketBible by Laridian -"There is no charge for the PocketBible program, and it includes access to the King James Version Bible and 39 other free Bibles and reference book," including the ASV, Matthew Henry's concise commentary, and Pilgrim's Progress. I first downloaded Laridian's software years ago with my Windows Mobile 6 cell phone. At that time, I also purchased the NIV and Message options from Laridian. I love that, once I purchased them, they have worked on all the different cell phones I've had, including the Blackberry and the iPhone. I've always enjoyed this Bible software for cell phones but it's especially easy to use on the iPhone! It definitely makes it easy to look up inspirational Bible verses on tough days away from my primary computer. FREE for the basics. Fees for additional Bible versions or other books.

Well, that's it for now, though I suspect I'll have more suggestions "down the road." How about you? What are your favorite apps? We'd love to hear about them.

It is good

to give thanks

to the LORD

And to sing praises

to Your name,

O Most High,

To declare

Your lovingkindness

in the morning

And Your faithfulness

by night.

Psalm 92:1-2

As a member of the Baby Boomer Generation, I often find myself lying awake at night, unable to sleep. Sometimes it’s due to my metabolism…sometimes it’s because of constantly being awakened due to care giving needs…sometimes it’s just middle of the night worries.

For a couple of years, I spent many sleepless nights getting up and reading or working. That doesn’t happen very much any more. I still wake up. But now when I do, I’ve found that one of the best ways to fall asleep is to use my mp3 player to listen to praise and worship music or a quiet sermon. They focus my thoughts on God, Who blesses and encourages me. And most of the time it also relaxes me enough I can go back to sleep.

For more lovely photos accompanied by inspirational Bible verses and words of encouragement, pop on over to Critty Joy who is hosting this week’s Word-Filled Wednesday. You can also find plenty of fun and interesting photos at 5 Minutes for Mom’s Wordless Wednesday.

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“Ways to Fall Asleep” headlines abound in a wide variety of magazines from those geared for the young on up to those with an older readership. Sleep medication ads are all around. “Can’t Sleep” issues can impact just about everyone. Of course, some do have more difficulties than others. The elderly often have a harder time sleeping as they continue to age. Those going through menopause struggle with the problem due to hot flashes and other issues. Caregivers of any age can struggle with sleep when worries over health, finances, kids, etc. take over. It’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, and it makes it doubly difficult to carry on with all the various responsibilities we caregivers have.

I have discovered a few creative ways to fall asleep and thought I would share my newest one, which is also my favorite one. I discovered that I could use my mp3 player to “lull” me to sleep while also planting God’s Word into my mind. I have it loaded up with a wide variety of sermons by some of my favorite pastors. When I awake, and can’t go back to sleep because my busy mind starts kicking into overdrive, I just grab my Apple iPod , turn it on to a sermon from one of the epistles, set it for a low but audible setting, and pop one ear bud in my ear. Then I tuck the iPod under my pillow and start listening. If I absolutely can’t sleep, I  am learning more about God and His Word. Most nights, I find that I am back to sleep within five minutes, with the added blessing of a verse or two impressed on my mind. Occasionally I will wake up again for a few minutes, listen to a bit more of the sermon, and then it again lulls me right back to sleep. Don’t get me wrong, these are not boring sermons. I thoroughly enjoy listening to them when I don’t have a chance to do my own regular Bible study. In fact, I will later make sure I listen to them while driving in a car since I do miss so much of it. When I do, I find it interesting that the parts I did listen to I do remember.

I’ve learned to pick pastors who have quieter voices as opposed to those with more dramatic voices. I have also learned not to use sermons on dramatically interesting stories such as Daniel and the Lion’s Den or those from the book of Revelation. They can actually keep me awake because I am so interested or because they have created some anxiety in me. I often use the same sermon every time for a week or two since I never last that long through it. The interesting thing is that before, when I tried praying or lying there, I would stay awake much longer, and often never get back to sleep. I’ve only had that happen once since I started this routine a few months ago.

I use an Apple iPod but I’m sure any mp3 player would work fine. My mom has actually done this for years using a cd player. Those are a bit more bulky and you’d need to have a little table to put it on.

Whether you give this a try yourself, or help an elderly parent with this suggestion, please let us know how it worked for you by leaving a comment below.

One final thought before I bid you adieu. The sermon I’ll be listening to next is from Romans 8:28-30. It’s one of my favorite passages and I wanted to share it with you on this Sunday evening:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

Have a blessed Sunday! Sleep well.