Sleep Number, the maker of the Sleep Number 360 smart bed, has added new features to its SleepIQ technology designed to give users an even deeper look into their sleep health to improve their overall wellbeing.

The new feature, My Sleep Health, creates a weekly recap every morning of users' sleeping trends, with personalized recommendations based on their sleep duration, efficiency and timing.

Duration, efficiency and timing metrics are based on research by Dr. Dan Buysse, a professor of sleep medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and former president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. These measurements give users insights into how long they slept, how restful it was and how consistent their sleeping patterns are. The factors create the foundation of good sleep, according to Sleep Number.

“Quality sleep is essential for good sleep health and a major contributor to overall health. Combined with the effortless adjustability of the 360 smart bed, My Sleep Health supports sleepers in getting the quality sleep they need to feel their best,” Annie Bloomquist, chief innovation officer of Sleep Number, said in a statement.

“By helping people understand the important impacts of duration, efficiency and timing – all of which were proven by Dr. Buysse to dramatically affect sleep quality – we are empowering our sleepers to improve their sleep.”

My Sleep Health’s insights are just the latest measurements that can be detected by the 360 smart bed and its proprietary SleepIQ technology. The bed automatically adjusts to sleepers’ movements, balances temperatures, and tracks average heart rate, breath rate, heart rate variability, and circadian rhythms.

WHY THIS MATTERS

The effects of sleep on one’s overall health are well documented. Getting quality sleep can help protect one’s mental health, physical health, quality of life and safety, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Without getting the recommended amount of sleep, people put themselves at higher risk for heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke and obesity, the NIH says.

Moreover, research suggests that sleep and mental health go hand-in-hand, especially for conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, according to the Sleep Foundation.

Getting enough quality sleep is easier said than done, however. Prior to the pandemic, an estimated 50 to 70 million Americans suffered from sleep-related problems, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association.

The pandemic exacerbated this problem, making sleep disorders more prevalent during the height of COVID-19, according to research published in The Lancet, The study found that sleep issues were most common among healthcare professionals and COVID-19 patients.

THE LARGER TREND

Given the role sleep plays in our health, numerous digital health companies have created monitoring technologies to help people hack their sleep.

For instance, Garmin works with Sleeprate to give users insights into how workouts and nightly sleep affect one another. Fitbit and Apple smartwatches both independently track and give sleep reports to their users.

Withings has an under-the-mattress pad that measures respiratory rate, body movement and continuous heart rate in order to track users’ sleep cycles (deep, light and REM) and cycle durations, as well as overall sleep duration. It can also detect snoring to help diagnose sleep apnea.

Google even has contactless sleep monitoring in its second-generation Nest Hub. Amazon recently got the greenlight from the FCC to develop similar features for its Alexa devices.

Despite the number of sleep apps on the market, a recent systematic review criticized their overall lack of evidence and called for more evaluation and uniformity during the design process.