Introducing the Pzizz Android app.

The older I get, the more I can truly appreciate a good nap. No really, there's just something about it—taking a nap mid-afternoon is an amazing experience. Unfortunately, with a busy work schedule, I find it difficult to take a nap. It's not that I can't afford the 20-minute break; it's just that I can't ever get to sleep—that is, until I discovered Pzizz.

Pzizz is an Android app that generates a custom "nap narrative" that helps ease you off to dreamland and wakes you up when it's over. I was very skeptical about how restful a 20-minute forced nap could be, and at first, I doubted I'd fall asleep at all. Thankfully, I was very wrong.

Pzizz (which my spell check really wants to change to "pizza") generates an eerie, 3D-sound soundtrack, and it provides verbal prompting that helps lull you off to sleep. And, it works. It works well. The music is hard to describe. There are chimes, strings and ocean sounds, and they all blend into a "moving" 3D auditory experience that knocks me right out. I'm often worried the eerie sounds will give me nightmares, but quite the opposite seems to happen. I always fall asleep, and I always feel rested when the app wakes me up 20 minutes later. (The amount time can be adjusted to suit your nap preferences.)

So far, I've used Pzizz only for naps, but there's also a module to aid with sleeping through the night. I can't wear earphones or earbuds that long, so I've never tried it overnight. I think if I lived alone, I might try connecting my phone to speakers and play Pzizz out loud. If you have a bed mate, it's the sort of thing you'd have to discuss in advance, and I don't think my wife would be keen on the eerie-sounding music and British man's voice all night!

The Pzizz app is free in the Google Play Store, and I can't recommend it enough. Pzizz does exactly what it claims to do while never trying to push an expensive "upgrade". Give it a try this afternoon—unless you're a bus driver, in which case, wait until after work to give it a try.