Most people know technology can mess with their sleep. Blue light, endless scrolling, notification overload — it all takes a toll on the length and quality of a night’s rest. But a few gadgets and apps can actually help you sleep better.
As tech people, we found ourselves curious whether the great sleep destroyer can instead shepherd us off to dreamland (and leave us better prepared to deal with tomorrow’s hectic day). So we rounded up the apps and devices that have helped us get better sleep — hopefully they can help you catch more z’, too.
Headspace
Personally, the best thing I’ve done for my sleep is banishing my phone from the bedroom, so it may seem ironic to add a smartphone app to this list. Headspace, however, has the opposite effect on sleep that social media does. Like the Hatch Restore, this iOS and Android app has an extensive library of meditations and exercises to help you relax and fall asleep.
I prefer the shorter, wind-down segments that last a few minutes and help you do a full body scan to relax. Longer “Sleepcasts” run around 45 minutes and tell you stories in calm voices – there are even a few Star Wars-themed tales, but those just made me want to get up and watch more Mandalorian.
Sleep music and soundscapes combine ambient sounds with tones and melodies, lasting up to 500 minutes. And perhaps most critically, there’s a “Nighttime SOS” page, with guided exercises to help you get back to sleep if you wake up with bad dreams, work stress or something else.
The yearly subscription is $70 or you can pay $13 a month. In addition to sleep content, you also get daytime meditations and sessions that help you breathe, manage stress and focus, which can also help with sleep. If you do decide to bring Headspace into the bedroom, make sure you have your phone’s sleep focus or bedtime mode turned on before you do, otherwise nighttime spam emails and Messenger alerts will undo all of the good work your sleep app just rendered.
Hatch Restore 2
Like the previous generation, the Hatch Restore 2 is part sunrise alarm clock, part sleep-sounds speaker and is programmed through an app filled with continually renewing sleep content.
This new model adds a fabric overlay atop the sunrise light and comes in more subdued colors. It also has a new shape with large, tactile buttons that are easy to feel in the dark. The concave button starts your sleep music/sounds and the convex one controls your morning routine.
Everything else is controlled via the Hatch App, which has a vast library of sleep stories, meditations, music and white noise to help you fall and stay in asleep, as well as a big selection of wake-up pep talks and stretches to get you energized in the AM. The catch is that only a small portion of the library is included with the free version — full access costs $5 per month.
When I reviewed the device, I thought I’d pay for the duration of my testing and then cancel. But many months later, I’m enamored enough of the nighttime “Ambient Overlook” tunes and Dane’s morning “Jump Start” that I’m happy to keep paying.
Oura Ring Gen 3
Oura’s smart ring tracks your activity during the day and your sleep at night (or whenever it is you go to bed), giving you an overall score from one to 100 each morning.
Using temperature, movement, blood oxygen and pulse sensors, Oura gains insight into how long you stay in the various sleep stages and uses that sleep data to offer suggestions on ways to get better sleep.
When we tested it out, we called it the “perfect wearable for people who don’t like wearables,” appreciating the data it provides while slipping seamlessly into everyday life. After a few days of wearing it, our reviewer quickly started to ignore its presence, which means you’re probably much more likely to wear it to bed than a fitness band.
Since it doesn’t have a screen, all of Oura’s information comes to you via the companion app. That lack of screen is also the reason you can squeeze up to seven days of battery life out of it, an important feature since no sleep tracker can help if it has to spend its nights on a charger.
Eight Sleep Pod 3
If you don’t want a wearable at all, the Sleep Pod 3 from Eight Sleep will track your metrics and give you a sleep score. It also heats or cools your side of the bed and wakes you up with a subtle rumble beneath your chest. The mattress-and-cover combo goes for between $3,000 and $4,400, depending on the size and thickness of the mattress, which puts it well above any traditional wearable in terms of affordability.
The bulk of the cost is in the cover, which conceals tubing through which warm or cool water flows from an external base, regulating the temp, while sensors in the cover monitor your sleep.
You can buy the cover alone and that will save you between $900 and $1,900 off the sticker price, but it’s still not cheap. You’ll also need a $19 per month subscription to access all the sleep tracking features.