Technology that helps us sleep

During its latest Apple Watch Series 11 launch, Apple highlighted sleep tracking as one of the main marketing pillars of the new product. The company's choice confirmed what has been clear for some time: sleep has become a fertile terrain for technology-driven optimization. The addition of a new Sleep Score on Apple's health app formalised something that many competitors were already doing, turning sleep into a measurable daily benchmark, much like steps or calories. The move reflects a wider trend. Nearly every wearable now promises to log not only when you fall asleep but also how deep that sleep might be. The Whoop 4, for example, is a popular screenless wearable that, alongside activity metrics, focuses on tracking the quality of our sleep. Alternatives have already emerged for those who dislike wearing a watch or a band on their wrist at night. The Oura Ring and its many competitors are a good example. Thanks to their less intrusive design, they are well suited to tracking nightly vitals without interfering with the very process they are meant to help optimize.

Non-wearable alternatives have also existed for quite some time. The market offers a range of specialized devices that, unlike a watch or a ring, can be clinically certified as sleep trackers because they provide more precise analysis of a sleeper's patterns. Withings Sleep Analyser is a relatively recent addition to the category. It is an under-mattress sensor that resembles a thin cabled pad and can track heart rate and breathing without touching the body. Its design recalls Nokia Sleep, a similar device that made headlines when it was launched in 2018, only to fade amid shifting marketing and branding strategies. Whatever their shape or form, all these devices answer to the same drive: to improve one of the few remaining aspects of our lives for which technology still struggles to offer a path of algorithmic optimization. The market for sleep tech is already worth tens of billions of dollars and analysts forecast it could grow several times larger by the next decade. The devices' accuracy is often quite good, but in some instances they have compensated heavily with computational guessing. They infer sleep stages from heart rate, temperature, and movement, which makes them quite reliable but also susceptible to error. Moreover, by providing a set of measurable benchmarks, they may even contribute to new anxieties that can make sleep worse. All in all, they work reasonably well, but unlike tracking proactive activities such as sports, quantifying sleep remains more elusive because it happens without our conscious input.

Alongside a flurry of devices for tracking sleep, sleep-improvement smartphone software also claims its lion's share of the market for sleep solutions. The success of apps like Calm, Headspace, Sleep Cycle, Endel, and many others speaks volumes about how much we collectively feel the need to quench our desire for a better night's sleep. Some of them offer scientifically calibrated paths of meditation and breathing exercises. Others focus more on sound or music, promising to calm brain waves so we can fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. We have tested a few of them over the years, and they tend to work. Their problem lies in the fact that, despite differences in approach, they all have something in common: a quick trial period followed by the inevitable request to subscribe to a paid-for plan. If they worked for you, and there's a high chance they might, you will be challenged by a well-crafted psychological conundrum: should I lose this newfound ability to sleep better, or should I just activate yet another subscription to be able to rest? So here we are. Ironically, technology can help us sleep better, yet it can also fuel the very sleep anxiety that often stands in the way of a good night's rest. As with many other technological tools, the value lies in balance. Used deliberately, and with an awareness of their limits, sleep-enhancing devices and apps can genuinely make our rest more rewarding. But if we approach them as just another optimization challenge, like tracking our running, cycling, or swimming, the risk is that they end up having the opposite effect as intended.

The opening photo shows the Zzzn Sleep Apparel System project by the Japanese studio Konel, which was presented at Milan Design Week 2025. Designed to promote sleep, it comprises a smart ring, a hood and a jacket with futuristic lines that monitor biometric data and encourage relaxation.