Sleep Science Tech

Prevention is better than the cure – so if you want to be at your best, with glowing skin and without heavy bags under your eyes – you need to get a good night’s sleep! Experts tell us that one way to achieve this is to switch off our digital devices hours before we go to bed. And yet, a new wave of tech specially designed to improve our quality of sleep is set to be welcomed into bedrooms around the world.

Wearables and trackers

First, it’s worth noting that sleep tech devices currently being used, like Fitbits, may, in fact, be unreliable. Because they rely on human behavior, such as movement, they are not so good at discerning exactly what is going on: if you’re keeping still, they may think you’re sleeping, when in fact you’re actually just reading in bed. Similarly, they can’t distinguish between light and deep sleep, because our level of movement may be the same during either. The only way to correctly establish and repair a sleep problem is by understanding what is going on in the brain, which is something that most sleep apps can’t do.

How new tech will help you snooze

There is certainly a gap in the market for tech that actively improves sleep. Tech news site, UKTAN, says that market demand for such merchandise is extremely high, which explains why sleep-tech innovation is taking off.

Here’s a round-up of some of the latest innovations in this field:

• Smart home-friendly hi-tech mattresses – come with temperature controls for optimal sleep, can analyze your REM stats, and send the data to an app on your mobile.
• Smart pillow ZEEQ – monitors snoring, plays music, analyses sleep patterns and behaves like an alarm clock.
• Smart alarm clock – recognizes when you’re in the light sleep stage and helps you wake up naturally.

…. and, with a recent study showing that the AppleWatch may detect sleep apnea and hypertension, Apple may well develop the device to take a more significant offline role in your life.