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Sleep deprivation is a real problem. Studies show that not getting enough rest can lead to impaired cognitive skills and health risks like diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and obesity. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of American adults don’t get the recommended seven hours of shut-eye per night.
Although we often blame our smartphones and their for keeping us awake, there’s also a lot of tech out there that tries to do the opposite. And you don’t have to spend a lot to get a better night’s rest. Here are some of our favorite sleep products and how they can help you get quality rest.
How to Track Your Sleep
Gaining insight into your sleeping patterns is the first step toward identifying problems and fixing them. Fortunately, sleep is a standard health metric among and . When you are evaluating your options, look for a device that can track your sleep stages, overnight heart rate variability (HRV), breathing/respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation level (aka SpO2 or Pulse Ox), and skin temperature.
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The ticks all those boxes. It tracks the amount of time you spend in light, deep, and REM sleep, and its companion app offers graphs of your sleep stages, sleeping heart rate, and more. It also gives you a daily Sleep Score that can help you quickly gauge the quality of your shut-eye. These insights can be a good wake-up call if you’re not getting enough rest.
The Charge 6 and other Fitbit devices also track your , or the changes in your breathing as you sleep. This information can potentially help you identify signs of sleep apnea and other sleep disorders.
Garmin and Polar wearables also generally do an excellent job of tracking your rest. The and both have a Pulse Ox sensor that can monitor your blood oxygen saturation on demand, throughout the day, and while you sleep. They also track your overnight respiration and reports your average, highest, and lowest number of breaths per minute.
If wearing a tracker on your wrist to bed is too uncomfortable, you might prefer a smart ring like the . It looks like a basic metal band, but it houses small sensors that keep tabs on your activity, physical and mental health, and sleep.
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Smartwatches are also capable of sleep tracking, but they tend to be bulkier and have shorter battery lives, which makes them less suitable for overnight use.
Overnight, the monitors your sleep and other key health stats like wrist temperature and respiration. Apple’s temperature sensing feature doesn’t support on-demand readings like a basic thermometer, but it frequently samples your wrist temperature overnight and tracks changes from your baseline (such as +0.25 Fahrenheit) to let you know whether you’re running hotter or colder than usual.
Blood oxygen saturation monitoring on Apple Watch models currently being sold in the US, but the , the Series 10, and the support a new overnight metric introduced as part of called breathing disturbances that can be used to detect sleep apnea. The Apple Watch also supports a range of third-party apps that can help you get a more complete picture of your sleep patterns such as such as or .
When it comes to sleep tracking, have a slight advantage over the . The supports sleep apnea detection as well as SpO2 monitoring, and shows your actual overnight skin temperature readings instead of just your devitations. Moreover, the Galaxy Watch can work together with your smartphone to listen for snoring and even record it, a feature that is only available on the Apple Watch via third-party apps. In the morning, the Galaxy Watch offers a sleep quality score and tips for improving your rest.
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Many fitness trackers and smartwatches also let you set silent alarms that wake you up with a gentle vibration on your wrist. This is handy if you share a bed with someone or have roommates in a home with thin walls. You can find this feature on the Apple Watch, the Fitbit Charge 6, the Garmin Venu Sq 2, and others.
As for contactless alternatives, we highly recommend the second-generation , which uses imperceptible motion-sensing technology to track your sleep from a bedside table without physically touching you. The is another contactless bedside sleep tracker.
And if you’re worried about your little ones, options exist for them, too. The is a that can track sleep patterns. This information can help you narrow down a better bedtime for your cherub.
Sleep deprivation is a real problem. Studies show that not getting enough rest can lead to impaired cognitive skills and health risks like diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a third of American adults don’t get the recommended seven hours of shut-eye per night.
Although we often blame our smartphones and their blue light for keeping us awake, there’s also a lot of tech out there that tries to do the opposite. And you don’t have to spend a lot to get a better night’s rest. Here are some of our favorite sleep products and how they can help you get quality rest.