The following text is taken from a newspaper article about commercial products designed to help people sleep. Can't Sleep? There's an app for that My forays into the sleep-industrial complex really took off after the birth of my son. Being a new parent turns you into a sleep obsessive. My harried peers and I would swap tips on getting our infants to shut their eyes and stay that way for longer than an hour. And then came the products: white noise machines, swaddling blankets, aromatherapy oils. When the dratted soft toy that is meant to recreate the noises in the womb failed me, I scoured online forums searching for the good stuff. I became so fixated on sleep that by the time my son stopped waking every two hours at night, I had developed insomnia. Again, I turned to the internet to find a cure. Sleep consultants, pills, apps and meditation mantras all promised a solution – at a cost. Sleep is big business, particularly as mobile phones further distract and stimulate our minds. According to Euromonitor, the market research company, sleep aids are one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer health, worth about $2.2 billion globally in 2016. I tried three products to see if any of them actually worked for me. Bodyclock Luxe 750D by Lumie Bodyclock This Lumie 'dawn simulator' is a large, massively expensive alarm clock with a light that mimics the effect of sunrise and sunset, and a radio. It had one immediate advantage for me: removing the need for a mobile device in the bedroom. The interface is a bit complicated and sparked an argument the first day when my partner complained I had set the alarm too loud: I had to leaf through the manual to figure out how to turn it down. The feature I liked the best was the fake sunrise effect. This encourages you to rouse from slumber gradually rather than being assaulted by a beeping alarm, and I imagine it would be helpful during long northern hemisphere winters when you have to force yourself awake in darkness. I was more sceptical about the sunset feature, which dims the lights gradually at bedtime. As someone who reads in bed, I don't quite understand the point. I loved the thunderstorm, blackbird and white noise for relaxing but was less keen on the traffic and the ping-pong. And I would rather wake to the radio than a kitten purring or crickets chirruping. I don't think it would do much for my sleeplessness but it's a brilliant alarm clock. Rating: 4/5 Deep Sleep Pillow Spray by This Works Aromatherapy is appealing; it seems romantic and natural, and smells nice. Exhausted on a Friday evening, I sprayed this on my son's pillow. We lay down together, inhaling the lavender and chamomile. After 20 seconds, my son grew restless. 'Mummy, is it working?' Clearly not. Later, I applied it to my own pillow. Focusing on the smell and on my breathing was meditative. Later, my partner found me passed out. 'It worked then,' he said, raising an eyebrow. A few days later I tried it again in a fit of sleeplessness. An hour later, I was wide awake. Rating: 2/5 Sleepio by Big Health This app/website was devised by a neuroscientist specialising in sleep research and his ex-insomniac business partner. Based on cognitive behavioural therapy, it features advice dispensed by a cartoon professor with a calming accent. You fill out a sleep diary to identify which aspects of sleep you want to improve. Over six weekly interactive sessions, 'the prof' delivers tailored advice on subjects such as light exposure and exercise. Full disclosure: I didn't complete the programme due to time constraints. But I liked some bits, such as making a list of good things that had happened that day and writing a to-do list to nail down whirring worries before bed. However, accessing it through a mobile and laptop did nothing for my digital disengagement. Rating: 3/5