Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for both physical and mental health. However, many Americans struggle to get enough high-quality sleep on a regular basis. Fortunately, advances in sleep technology over the past decade have led to a wide range of devices and apps aimed at helping people optimize their sleep. Read on to learn about the latest sleep tech options and how to find the perfect solution tailored to your specific sleep issues and preferences.
Assess Your Sleep Needs and Issues
Before purchasing any sleep technology, take some time to reflect on your own sleep habits and struggles. Do you have difficulties falling asleep at night? Do you wake up frequently or early? Or do you have issues getting restful, rejuvenating sleep even if you sleep through the night? Make some notes about any problems, patterns, or frustrations you want to address. This will help narrow down what type of sleep tech may be most helpful for your situation.
You’ll also want to consider variables like sleeping with a partner who may be disturbed if you use certain devices, whether you prefer quantifying your sleep with analytics, your budget constraints, and similar practical factors. Keep these user considerations in mind as we explore some popular categories of sleep tech aids.
Sleep Tracking Devices and Apps
One of the most widely used types of sleep technology today involves wearable devices, smartphone apps, and other tools to track metrics during sleep like duration, consistency, restless activity, heart rate, breathing disturbances, snoring, and even how much time you spend in key stages of sleep.
Leading consumer sleep tracking options include wearable bands and rings from companies like Fitbit, Garmin, and Oura as well as advanced non-contact sensors placed under the mattress. According to the Wearable Tech website wearableXP, Oura is going to be a tough competitor for other brands in the smart rings market. On the app side, standouts include ShutEye and SnoreLab which use your phone microphone, movement, and other data to monitor sleep quality and track and analyze your snoring patterns.
Review the tracking metrics offered by various products against your personal sleep improvement goals. If highly detailed analytical insight will help motivate you, splurge on one of the more extensive tracking systems. If you just want to keep better tabs on inconsistent sleep schedules, an inexpensive tracker band may suffice.
Soothing Sound Machines and Sleep Headphones
For those struggling more with falling asleep than staying asleep, ambient sound machines can help drown out disruptive noise and provide calming audio backdrops optimized for sleep. Companies offer a wide selection of non-looping sounds like rain, ocean waves, wind,and white noise as well as analog fan and tones options to suit personal preferences. Adaptive devices even auto-adjust volume based on the background noise level detected in your room.
If you or your partner prefer silence for falling asleep but want to block out snoring, talking, or similar from the other person, another option is sleep headphones or headband headphones with flat earbud speakers just to generate soothing background noise without tangled wires.
Light Therapy for Circadian Rhythm Alignment
For issues with inconsistent sleep patterns, feeling unrested after sufficient hours of sleep, or trouble waking up, poor circadian rhythm alignment with natural bio-cycles of alertness could be the culprit. Light therapy devices can help reset your circadian clock through consistent exposure to short wavelengths of light. Leading consumer options like Philips wake-up lights, Lumie alarm clocks, and Redlight melatonin-suppressing glasses provide targeted bright light first thing in the morning. Some systems also offer low wavelength evening light to boost melatonin before bed.
Consider Trade-Offs of High-Tech vs Simple Adjustments
While it’s tempting to want to quantify every aspect of your sleep and have an app or device solve all your sleep issues, don’t underestimate free or low-cost sleep hygiene tweaks like limiting caffeine past the afternoon, avoiding screens before bed, keeping your bedroom cooler, sticking to consistent bedtime routines, or investing in a new mattress or pillows. Determine the easiest and most effective options before investing heavily in sleep technology, especially given many trackers still have accuracy limitations. Simple snoring aids like nasal strips or pillows may also resolve needs.
With so many sleep tech devices now available to consumers, take some time to reflect on your specific sleep struggles and needs first.
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