The rise and fall of sleep tech – 3 reasons why smart bedroom technology hasn't caught on

With the rise of smart home technology, almost every room in the house has some sort of smart gadget to make daily life easier. But one area where smart technology hasn’t quite caught on is the bedroom, with sleep tech still being a rare commodity.

The term ‘sleep tech’ is very broad as it actually covers quite a lot of areas. The most common sleep tech you’ll find is in the form of wearables, including fitness trackers that also track sleep, smart rings, and even headbands that measure brain activity.

Other areas that sleep tech falls under are relaxation gadgets, like sleep headphones that play relaxing music, eye masks that emit vibrations and wake up lights that wake you up more naturally and gently in the morning.

This type of sleep tech is extremely popular, as many people already have gadgets like trackers and rings for other daily activities. But a place where it hasn’t quite caught on is when the technology is in the mattress itself.

There are a few smart mattresses on the market, but not as many as you’d expect. Models from the likes of Eight Sleep, Sleep.8 and Bryte feature a full sleep system consisting of a bed base or mattress and other accessories that feature sensors and tracking technology to monitor sleep patterns and make adjustments through the night, like bed height and temperature.

While these gadgets are designed to improve your sleep quality and quantity, they’re still not quite as popular as many of us thought they’d be – and I’ve identified three reasons why.

Why hasn’t sleep tech caught on?

1. Cost

The main – and arguably the most important – reason why this type of sleep tech hasn’t caught on is the cost. In general, mattresses are quite a big expense so completely replacing your mattress, bed base and buying additional accessories and apps can get expensive. On average, you’re looking to pay upwards of £2,000.

Some smart mattress brands come with a monthly app subscription to unlock specific tracking features, so you’re also paying an ongoing fee on your mattress. Not everyone has the means to pay for this which makes sleep tech quite inaccessible.

2. Comfort

Picking a mattress that suits your sleep style and other needs is very important. Mattresses tend to last up to 10 years so if you pick one that isn’t comfortable or supportive, you could be looking at 10 years of bad sleep.

If you have a mattress which is already serving you well, you might be hesitant to replace it with a smart or non-smart one in case it’s uncomfortable. Of course, there are guarantees and returns in place for all types of mattresses, including smart ones, but for some, it might not seem worth the risk.

Moving away from mattresses, some sleep trackers can be uncomfortable to wear at night. Whether it’s a bulky fitness tracker, a heavy headband or a smart ring’s flashy sensors, these things can disturb your sleep. There are also smaller, less invasive sleep tech products that can sit in your bed, either under your pillow or sheets, but they aren’t particularly comfortable either.

3. Accuracy

Despite the huge advancements in sleep tech, not everything is perfect. Many people have reported inaccurate results from sleep tech, including trackers and smart mattresses.

Many sleep products are sold as wellness gadgets rather than certified medical tools, so they don’t always come with rigorous testing or sign off. This is a concern if you’re using something that comes into contact with your body and of course, if you’re paying for something that you want to give you health insights, it can feel like a waste if findings are inconsistent.

Depending on your device’s charge, connection and other external factors, some sleep wearables can miss details or overinflate them which results in incomplete data. A good example of this is I was once testing a smart ring that noted I’d had a 20 minute nap when in fact, I’d been reading and my heart rate had lowered because I was relaxed.

With such a focus on getting the perfect sleep, sleep tech can also contribute to orthosomnia which has the opposite effect of improving your sleep. A few months ago, I got addicted to achieving the perfect sleep score and found that I was jolting awake multiple times in the night and not sleeping properly because of it.

If you don’t achieve the perfect sleep score, some trackers don’t always tell you how to fix it. Instead, they’ll give you a compilation of data which can leave some users frustrated as they haven’t got the answers.

As a sleep expert, I really don’t know how sleep tech needs to improve for more people to start using it. It’d be easy to say the costs need to come down and devices need to be tested more, but seeing this come into fruition is another story.