Buying Guide

The best sleep tech money can buy right now

Technology does more than keep you awake.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
March 10, 2020

Image: Casper

Whoever the mastermind is behind making National Sleep Month coincide with Daylight Saving Time is a twisted genius. I mean, there’s nothing closer to our minds this month as residents of most states just lost an hour of sleep on Sunday. In fact, it’s a full month of sleepytime events, with World Sleep Day on March 13, and Sleep Awareness Week starting March 10 and running to March 16.

With everyone’s eyes on counting sheep, we thought we’d take a look at some of the best sleepytime tech on the market so you can get that well-deserved rest. Here are KnowTechie’s picks to knock out some zzz’s.

Before you get to bed

Image: URGOnight

The foundation of a good night’s rest starts when you wake up. Getting some anaerobic exercise will set you up for a better chance of sleep. So will limiting your exposure to the blue light given off by your electronic devices, by wearing blue light blocking glasses during the day from companies such as Gunnar Optiks or Pixel Eyewear.

You could even go one step further, and retrain your brain for better sleep with URGOnight. It uses a headband to read your brainwaves as you play guided games to fix your shitty sleep habits. Sweet.

Time for sleep

Image: KnowTechie

It’s hard to argue that a comfortable bed is one of the essentials to a good night’s sleep, but what if you could give your bed smarts that helped you sleep more deeply? That’s the case for the tech-stuffed Eight Sleep Pod, which combines inbuilt sleep-tracking and an active grid layer that runs either hot or cold water under your side of the bed to keep you in comfort all night long. It’s even got a thermal alarm for those of you that hate the rude awakening of your alarm clock.

Have trouble falling asleep? Maybe the amount of light in your room is the issue. If so, the Glow Light from Casper might be worth checking out. It slowly dims to help you pass out gracefully, and then does the reverse in the morning so you wake up softly and not by the klaxon call of your alarm.

Wearables that help with sleep

motiv fitness tracking ring stood on box

Image: Joe Rice-Jones / KnowTechie

If you don’t want to replace your existing bed but still want those sweet sleep metrics, there’s a ton of wearable options you could try. Our favorites are the Motiv Ring, which fits heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking and more into a svelte ring; Fitbit’s Versa 2, which recently activated the Pulse Oximetry sensor so you can track the oxygen levels in your blood to warn about potential breathing issues; and the upcoming ScanWatch from Withings, which bundles an ECG and sensors to detect potential sleep apnea.

If you find you’re waking up feeling not rested, maybe try one of Philip Stein’s sleep-promoting bands or watches. They use Natural Frequency Technology to channel energy back to our bodies, which sounds kinda far-fetched but I can tell you that it worked for me. I’ve been testing one for a couple of months now and the amount of energy I wake up with on the nights I’ve been wearing it is noticeable versus the nights I forget to put it on.

Don’t forget the little ones

Sleep tech isn’t just for the adults either, with many ways to help your little ones drift off peacefully. After tucking them in at night, you could try an app like Moshi Twilight, which provides audio-only stories, music, and meditations that ease your little ones into dreamland.

There’s even a new sleep challenge story for National Sleep Month called the “Tick-Tock 10 Minute Bedtime,” featuring Holmes the Clockity Wockity and Mini Ben the Teeny Tick Tock. Whew, I’m glad someone else is reading that tongue twister.

It just goes to show that there’s a ton of good sleep-promoting products out there nowadays, so try a few and see which ones help you get the restful sleep you deserve.

What do you think? Plan on bolstering your bedtime tech this year? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.