hyperfocus
ADDITUDE PICKS
Laid-Back Apps
Learn to relax and to procrastinate productively.
Sleep Cycle
(iPhone, iPod Touch;
itunes.apple.com; 99 cents)
Many adults with ADHD have trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep.
Sleep Cycle monitors your movements in bed, through your iPhone, and
determines the best time to wake you up. During sleep, you go through
light, deep, and REM phases. To feel refreshed and rested, it is best to
wake during a light phase. The app will wake you at the optimal time, with
the music or sound that you choose. Once you set the alarm, place your
iPhone under a fitted sheet in the corner nearest your head. Sleep Cycle
analyzes your sleep patterns in graph form and measures your total sleep
time. Users can input their pre-bedtime activities to monitor their impact
on their sleep.
White Noise
(Mac, i Phone;
itunes.apple.com.
Android;
play.google.com; both $1.99)
Ambient sounds help a lot of ADDers relax or get to sleep by blocking
out a snoring husband or whirring police car sirens. White Noise lets you
select over 40 ambient sounds that cause your brain to produce calming
alpha waves. The menu includes the old standbys (Ocean, Streams, and
Rain Storms) and some unusual sounds, like Tibetan Singing Bowl and Cat
Purring. ADDers who chill out best with manmade sounds can choose
Clothes Dryer, Fan, Vacuum, or Washer. You can create new sounds by
changing the pitch. White Noise has a digital clock, in multiple colors, that
you can dim.
TOP PHOTO GROUP/THINKSTOCK
Put Things Off
(iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad; $1.99;
itunes.apple.com)
Procrastinators, rejoice. You may get more done by putting a few things
off for another day. Put Things Off is a simple productivity app that doesn’t
require you to learn a complicated system to categorize tasks. You create
tasks, group them in stacks, and, with one tap, assign them to four main
sections: Inbox, Today, Put Off, and Done. For an additional fee, you can
add tasks from a web browser to your device. The tasks that you put off
are captured—not dropped off and lost, as happens with paper lists. The
app will remind you in three days, or on any date that you choose, that the
task still needs to be done. —MICHELE NOVOTNI
