"We make sure we know more about sleep than anyone else," says Pete Bils, Vice President of Sleep Science and Research at Sleep Number. Sleep Number is on the cutting edge of sleep technology, with all their beds now produced being smart beds. But what does it mean to have a "smart bed?"
Some key benefits to this type of technology are sleep quality tracking, sensors that adjust the bed every time you move, and even a setting to have a foot warmer turn on thirty minutes before you enter the bed. The smart bed issues a report each morning to let you know how you have slept. In this way, you are able to track your specific sleeping habits and eliminate factors which contribute to a less restful night of sleep. To accomplish this, the bed tracks such factors as heart rate, amount of movements, wakefulness during the night, and whether or not you exited the bed. Logging your daily activities into the tracker and comparing them to the sleep report gives you an idea of your ideal sleep situation.
Mr. Bils says that in the beginning, Sleep Number's goal was to eliminate factors which made it hard to sleep. Now they are distributing technology that actively helps you fall asleep and stay asleep, such as the foot warmer. Science has shown that warming your feet at bedtime does help you fall asleep faster. Plus, this feature produces a whole new level of comfort. Their previous beds could be set to your ideal sleep number, and they remained there. The new, smart beds' sensors actively adjust the mattress every time you move to keep all points of your body experiencing support during the night. And it has already been proven that setting the bed at your ideal sleep number lends itself to less tossing and turning, to begin with.
Sleep Number is moving mountains in the area of healthy rest, all the while providing you with the comfort they have long been famous for. This technology paves the way for a more productive, well-rested society.
After you watch the full interview, be sure to check out their entire product line on their website, or visit one of their dedicated stores.
Interview by Scott Ertz of F5 Live: Refreshing Technology.
Scott is a developer who has worked on projects of varying sizes, including all of the PLUGHITZ Corporation properties. He is also known in the gaming world for his time supporting the rhythm game community, through DDRLover and hosting tournaments throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Currently, when he is not working on software projects or hosting F5 Live: Refreshing Technology, Scott can often be found returning to his high school days working with the Foundation for Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), mentoring teams and helping with ROBOTICON Tampa Bay. He has also helped found a student software learning group, the ASCII Warriors, currently housed at AMRoC Fab Lab.
