Insomnia App Unveils Upgrades to Boost Sleep Quality and Accessibility – Sleep Review

Summary: Stellar Sleep has upgraded its app to enhance chronic insomnia management, incorporating new features for better sleep tracking and expanded content access. The app employs cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). New additions include extended programming from five to 10 weeks, bookmarking for favorite lessons, a redesigned sleep center, and integrations with Fitbit, Oura Ring, and other devices. Launched in 2023 by George Wang, who overcame his own insomnia with CBT-I, the app aims to make effective sleep therapy more accessible. Subscriptions are FSA/HSA eligible.

Key Takeaways: 

• Stellar Sleep’s app update includes extended CBT-I-based programming, a more interactive sleep journal, and a redesigned sleep center to enhance user experience and engagement with the therapy.
• The app now features native integrations with Fitbit, Oura Ring, and other smart devices through Apple Health, allowing users to seamlessly track and analyze their sleep patterns in conjunction with the app’s guidance.
• Stellar Sleep aims to make effective insomnia therapy more accessible through a digital platform, and it has been clinically assessed to be 50% more effective than sleeping pills in improving sleep.

Stellar Sleep, which provides a digital solution for chronic insomnia management, announced it upgraded its app with new features intended to help users more easily track their sleep and access content that will help improve their quantity and quality of sleep.

For people experiencing chronic insomnia, superficial care advice (eg, cutting coffee, reducing screen time, meditation, etc.) is not enough. Their insomnia is driven by deeper psychological challenges like unresolved anxiety, burnout, or depression. The most effective treatment for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which addresses the root cause of insomnia and helps the patient re-learn how to sleep well again.

Unfortunately, this type of therapy is inaccessible to most people: Wait times for sleep therapists often exceed 12 months and insurance coverage is spotty, according to a release from Stellar Sleep.

Stellar Sleep co-founder George Wang experienced chronic insomnia for years before pursuing treatment in 2021. Facing long wait times for help, out of desperation he became certified in sleep therapy to treat his own condition. It worked, and he then teamed up with close friend Edrei Chua to build an app incorporating the principles of CBT-I to increase access to treatment for chronic insomnia.

Launched in 2023, the Stellar Sleep app helps users break the insomnia cycle using a proven, psychology-based methodology. In a clinical assessment of 500 users, Stellar Sleep was 50% more effective than sleeping pills. A recent analysis of Stellar Sleep user data found that most saw a significant improvement in their sleep within five weeks. 

New Stellar Sleep Additions

New April 2024 additions to Stellar Sleep include:

• Expanding the highest-impact, sleep-focused daily programming from five weeks up to 10 weeks. A unique feature of Stellar Sleep is that it provides CBT-I in the form of a structured daily guided program, along with content on demand. Each day’s content module builds across the course of the program to help users learn to sleep well again. Daily programming is one of Stellar Sleep’s most popular features, and expanding it was the top request from existing users who found the action-oriented approach of completing each day’s modules helpful in building consistency and new habits.
• New app features including:
  • The ability to bookmark favorite lessons, making it easy for users to return to the most helpful content as needed.
  • A redesigned sleep center to streamline daily entries into the sleep log, a more interactive sleep journal, and a dashboard to view all sleep data.
  • 1,000-plus minutes of new on-demand content in the Stellar Sleep library, including meditation, sleep music, bedtime stories, and breathing exercises.
• New native integrations with Fitbit and Oura Ring, plus many other smart devices via Apple Health.

“I know from personal experience what a devastating impact chronic insomnia can have on a person,” says Wang in a release. “Poor sleep permeates every facet of your life. Stellar Sleep is the app I wish I had three years ago. We’re excited to release these upgraded features, which we think will help expand our impact and help more people get better sleep.”

Subscriptions start at $60/month and are FSA/HSA eligible.