Many Technological Tools that Help you Sleep Better
A restful night’s sleep just improves everything. But, it seems nearly difficult to regularly acquire the necessary seven to eight hours of restful, quiet sleep in today’s world.
According to a recent poll, the typical person has 10 nights of insomnia each month. Thus, the majority of us spend around a third of our lives sleepwalking like zombies. On paper, that sum appears absurdly high. Anecdotally, though, it works.
We’re spent. Our pals are worn out. No one of us sleeps enough these days. We struggle to fall asleep, wake up with our brains racing, and have trouble falling back to sleep. We discuss it. We fret over it. We can’t sleep because of it.
Does technology make sleeping better?
I’ve struggled with sleep for much of my life. The problem is made worse by stress, hormones, a lack of work-life balance, and using too many devices right before bed.
Oddly, I’ve tried hundreds of products and services that claim to be helpful, from a $7,000 mattress that physically shakes you to sleep to a free podcast that bores you into a state that is very close to coma. Some are really effective.
Here is a look at some of the newest technological advancements that might help us sleep better.
The function of the Oura ring
In the late summer, I wrote about the Oura ring, which has been dubbed “a sleep lab on your finger,” as well as a number of other top recommendations, such as the Calm, Headspace, and Hatch Restore ($130) intelligent alarm applications. Many of those remain excellent options, but let’s take a look at some of the more recent entrants in the sleep technology market.
Amazon Halo Rise ($140)
A silent alarm clock and sleep tracker, the Halo Rise operates from your nightstand. It analyzes your breathing and movement patterns using radar technology to gauge how well you slept. A smart alarm detects the appropriate sleep stage and a wake-up light replicates sunlight to ensure that you awake feeling rested.
An Amazon gadget… in my bedroom? I know what you’re thinking. Creepy. But, the business assured me that it was made with privacy in mind, that there was no microphone or camera, and that you could erase the information the software monitors. Well, there you go.
The feature that appeals to me the most is that it measures sleep metrics without requiring me to wear anything on my body and appears to be virtually as accurate as my Fitbit 3 or Oura ring. (I haven’t yet tested my Watch 8 against other sleep trackers. It could reveal further inconsistencies.) It is good that it takes into consideration distractions from light, humidity, and temperature.
Is a subscription required for Halo Rise?
The greatest drawback is that you have to pay $4 each month after the first six months of Halo app subscription. I abhor that. The additional $4 a month may be enough to keep some people up at night, even while the accompanying app provides all the tailored data and insights as well as a ton of other excellent information to help you sleep better, stay active, eat well, and live a healthy life overall.
Morphee Zen Pebble ($80)
The Zen is a portable gadget that offers 72 distinct audio sessions to aid in relaxation and meditation. It is designed like a smooth, flat stone.
The advantage of this smaller device is that it may be used anytime, anyplace. It actually aids in calming racing thoughts and easing into greater relaxation and comes with wired headphones.
Cons? You must use wired headphones to listen. This lack of Bluetooth and WiFi on Morphee’s gadgets, according to the company, is intentional.
Moonbird ($200)
Another palm-sized breathing coach is Moonbird, but it has a cylindrical form and links to a smartphone app to measure other attentive data like your heart rate and the gap between beats (heart rate variability, or HRV).
You may use the little gadget whenever you need to unwind, place your thumb on the sensor, and either perform one of the pre-programmed breathing exercises or choose your own.
In order to help you breathe properly, Moonbird also softly expands and contracts when you inhale and exhale.
Despite its odd design, it fulfills its promise.
The main drawback is the cost.
Space-age AI mattress with high-tech and exorbitant pricing
The Bryte Balance Smart Bed ($6,300 for Queen size, $7,000 for King size) is an option for people with extra money to spend.
In 2021, I used this mattress for the first time at the Cavallo Point Resort in the San Francisco area. Bryte beds are a hallmark of the expanding sleep tourism trend and are featured at 14 upscale hotels around the nation, including The Lodge.
If you purchase one for your home, you will couple the mattress with an app on your smartphone and connect it to a tablet that sits next to the bed.
You may set it to know, down to particular body parts, whether you need a softer or harder basis.
For instance, I frequently sleep on one side but have to switch to my other side because of an aching hip. I get up a few times per night because of this annoying flip-flop motion. The Bryte bed recognized when it was time to gently rock me to a new position without waking me up by softening the region beneath my hip bone.
It also detected changes in temperature, so for once I didn’t wake up sticky and hot at 3 a.m. and then too cold to get out of bed at 6 a.m.
It appears that the company’s more recent Balance model for home usage does not have an adjustable temperature control, which is a major letdown.
There are 90 individual coil-like cushions in each mattress, which can detect, move, and release pressure from the body as needed during the night. The tablet is playing relaxing “sleep-inducing noises,” spa-like music that synchronized with the mattress movement and truly rocked me into slumberland. The coils roll like a gently, top-to-bottom wave.
So that you and your spouse may have various sensations, you can configure the mattress on both sides. The bed gently vibrates you out of sleep in the morning, and the app gives sleep information, such as how much time you spend in each stage of sleep. On the basis of the artificial intelligence it accumulates along the journey, it also offers ideas.
Although I haven’t personally tested two of the other top-rated smart mattresses, countless other reviewers, including those at USA TODAY’s sister site Reviewed, are raving about these two:
What is the price of Eight Sleep?
The Pod 3 mattress from Eight Sleeps ($3,195 for a Queen and $3,595 for a King size) regulates temperatures, gently vibrates to wake you up, and links with a smartphone app to track your sleep statistics.
High tester ratings are also given to the Sleep Number 360 p6 Smart Bed ($2,800 for Queen, $3,400 for King size), particularly by couples who require two separate beds in one. This one allows you to customize the hardness of either side to your preferences, auto-adjusts during the night using built-in air chambers, and can be connected to an app to track sleep. The biggest catch with this mattress is that a branded foundation to accommodate this technology would set you back at least $550 extra.
Do blue light-blocking eyewear have any effect?
You can avoid being kept up at night by the azure colour of gadgets by wearing blue-light-blocking glasses. The blue light we typically receive from the sun during the day gives us energy and aids in regulating our bodies’ circadian rhythm. Our normal waking and sleep cycles are disrupted by too much blue light, which is emitted by our smartphones, tablets, laptops, video games, and other devices.
Researchers examined 50 pairs of blue-light-blocking eyewear in a study that was published last year, and they came to the conclusion that orange and red lenses are the best.
The most light that disrupts our sleep tends to be blocked by red lenses, although orange lenses are more comfortable to wear for extended periods of time.
How much do blue light spectacles cost to purchase?
Swanwick’s Traditional Night Swannies ($89) are a top choice for fashionistas who want to look stylish while shielding their eyes from blue light. The Element Lux2 Blue Light aviators are available at Amazon for $40, which are less pricey yet still acceptable to wear in public.
The $13 Uvex Skyper blue-light-blocking computer glasses work well too, if you don’t mind that they resemble something your 90-year-old grandfather could wear home after getting his eyes dilated.
