Cuddle up to a robot!
Struggling to sleep at night? It’s time to invite some high-tech gadgets in to your bedroom
ThERE’s nothing more frustrating than tossing and turning all night, desperately seeking much-needed sleep. And more and more of us are feeling deprived in this department.
The latest report on our sleeping habits reveals that almost a third of us are getting poor sleep most nights, according to The sleep Council. Women are suffering more than men, it found, with anxiety to blame for a lack of shut eye.
But high-tech help is at hand. From the world’s first sleep robot, to a ‘sleep pebble’ that mimics brain waves to a smart bed that provides us with a nightly sleep quality report, these are the futuristic bedroom fixes that silicon Valley think we need:
HUG A ROBOT
THE world’s first sleep robot, the somnex sleep Robot, is a cute, bean-shaped pillow that inflates and deflates as it’s cuddled.
It’s designed so that you subconsciously slow down your breathing patterns, to mimic the robot, and calming your body’s rest and digestive nervous system, leads to sleep. £499, meetsomnox.com.
If you’d rather cuddle another human than a robot, then the more discreet ( and potentially marriage saving) option is a ‘sleep pebble’ that slips under your pillow. Zeez is an electromagnet that emits tiny signals at the same frequencies as the pulses generated by the brain during good sleep: Alpha waves help you fall asleep, theta and delta waves encourage a deep sleep.
It’s been trialled on 1,000 people and 79 per cent found it helped them sleep longer and deeper. It costs £350, with a money back guarantee if it doesn’t work for you, zeez.org.uk.
Meanwhile, the Dowdow is a device that sits on your bedside table and projects a light onto the ceiling. The idea is that you breathe in and out as the beam expands and retracts; the makers say you’ll fall asleep within eight minutes. £44, sodasays.co.uk.
SPACE-AGE BED
WE SPEND a third of our lives in bed, so it makes sense to invest in them — especially as an uncomfortable bed is a key reason for a bad night’s sleep. But perhaps most people would balk at £30,000 plus for the ‘world’s first smart bed’, the hi Can.
It looks like a futuristic four-poster, with an entertainment centre at the foot to watch movies on from the comfort of your pillows, which naturally can be pushed up to an incline at the touch of a button. The bed itself monitors the quality of your sleep, hi-interiors.com.
KEEP COOL
IF YOU’RE not quite ready for the bed-pod, it still might be worth upgrading your mattress. The engineers at Casper, named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in the World, created a mattress with open cell foams that allow hot air to escape and keeps you cooler, while the mattress itself has different areas of support, so your shoulders and hips get different levels of comfort. It also has a 100-night guarantee. From £375, casper. com.
SELF-CLEANING SHEETS
ECO-WARRIORS and wishful sleepers can unite over Ettitude’s offering — hightech sheets that repurpose coffee grounds and mix them into a bamboo Lyocell fabric that wicks moistures away 50 per cent faster than cotton, according to the makers. £25, ettitude.com.au.
Don’t wash your bedding as often as you should? you need self-cleaning bedding. silvon bedding is made up of fabric fused with antibacterial silver technology, which prevents the growth of bacteria. £46, silvonhome.com.
or for another natural option, try oldfashioned wool; the University of Leeds found that wool products increased sleep by up to 25 per cent over synthetic alternatives. From £47.99 for a washable wool pillow, thewoolroom.com
NIGHT-TIME ROUTINE
IF YOU want to sleep like a baby, you have to act like one and set a bedtime routine, according to Dr Marilyn Glenville, author of The Natural health Bible for Women. ‘Bedtime routines are helpful for good sleep,’ she says. ‘Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day. A cup of herbal tea, like camomile, an hour before bed can begin the routine.’
To keep your cuppa at the optimum temperature, try the Ember ceramic mug that you can programme with the accompanying mobile phone app to maintain it at the exact temperature you want. £79, sodasays.co.uk.
Then it’s time to listen to a bedtime story — apps offering adults a tale before bed are on the rise. Try Calm’s sleep stories, including one narrated by the actor Matthew McConaughey, calm.com.
PERFECT PJS
Why do we spend small fortunes on our gym clothes, which we wear for an hour a day, but go to bed in an old T-shirt which we sleep in for most of the week?
It’s the question Andreas Lenzhofer, founder of Dagsmejan sleepwear, hoped to address when he created a range of highperformance pyjamas that feature temperature-controlled material and an ergonomic fit.
The range apes sportswear in its design, too, but for those who favour a proper PJ look, there are shirts with smart collars. From £64; dagsmejan.com