The Truth About Smart Beds: Separating Hype from Reality 

Sleep Number presented data from smart bed sleepers at SLEEP 2021 that showed a potential model for predicting and tracking COVID-19 infection using sleep and biometric measures.⁴ 

At World Sleep 2022, Sleep Number presented results of a study of its 360 smart bed. The full study, published in the journal of Physiological Measurement, showed that the smart bed one day might detect the risk of sleep apnea and insomnia, as well as predict and track the development of symptoms associated with different respiratory illnesses.⁵

“If you know that you’re about to get sick, you may stay away from other people. You may be able to take care of yourself earlier. So, there’s so much benefit to that,” says Mills. 

Mills and Aloia say sleep scientists are just now figuring out what having all this longitudinal data means for the medical community. Sleep Number beds are a consumer product with no medical claims, but Mills says the company is progressing in a direction that could eventually lead to seeking medical clearances. Its huge dataset could lead to insights and algorithms that may one day mean smart beds become medical devices. 

Potential Pitfalls

While some consumer sleep technology companies provide scientific evidence that their products may enhance users’ sleep, such tech may have unintended clinical consequences, says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) in a 2018 position paper published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.⁶ 

Such consequences may include the overestimation of the presence of a sleep problem, which may cause unnecessary anxiety, and the underestimation of a sleep problem, which may cause delayed evaluation and treatment.⁶ 

According to the AASM position paper, consumer sleep technology must be US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared and tested against current gold standards if it is intended to render a diagnosis and/or treatment. “These tools are not substitutes for medical evaluation,” the paper states.⁶

A study published in Sleep Science in 2021 points out privacy concerns with consumer sleep tech, noting sensitive data collected by sleep apps may be breached. It also cites a lack of validation as a challenge, noting that a recent review of sleep apps showed only three out of 73 had undergone validation studies using PSG.⁷ 

As public interest in sleep-tracking devices continues to grow, sleep clinicians are faced with a growing number of patients who present them with sleep data. It’s becoming a common expectation for sleep clinicians to be familiar with the broad capabilities of categories of consumer sleep trackers such as smart beds.

AASM’s guiding principles recommend clinicians have a general awareness of consumer sleep technology and a readiness to discuss it with patients, use the data as a tool for opening discussions with patients, understand that most consumer sleep tech is not FDA-cleared, have a basic knowledge of available evidence (or lack thereof), and recognize the patient’s use of such technology as a commitment to focus on sleep wellness.⁶ 

The Future of Smart Beds

Over the next several years, the smart bed market is expected to increase in size, driven by factors including a growing young population and more smart homes, according to a report by Research and Markets.⁸ 

The report projects the smart bed market, valued at $1,786.40 million in 2019, will reach $2,661.85 million by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5% from 2020 to 2027.⁸

As the market continues to expand, manufacturers anticipate new technologies being added. At Sleep Number, which just introduced a temperature sensor in its Climate360 smart bed, Mills says the company is looking at creating a multi-sensor platform that would have the ability to collect even more data. 

Utah-based technology company Praesidium, powered by BioFi Technology, which is currently collaborating with a mattress manufacturer to develop its first smart mattress, believes the future of smart beds lies in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Seth Campbell, CEO of BioFi, says, “These technologies will enable us to see things coming on the horizon in terms of an individual’s health and even get to the point where we can predict potential issues and warn people so they can make changes early.” 

References

1. Siyahjani F, Garcia Molina G, Barr S, Mushtaq F. Performance evaluation of a smart bed technology against polysomnography. Sensors. 2022; 22(7):2605. 

2. Moyen N, Schiffer B. The Pod’s heart rate and heart rate variability accuracy. 21 June 2022. Eight Sleep blog. Available at www.eightsleep.com/blog/hrv-accuracy.

3. Moyen N, Schiffer B. The Pod’s respiratory rate algorithm accuracy. 3 Nov 2022. Eight Sleep blog. Available at www.eightsleep.com/blog/respiratory-rate-accuracy.

4. Guzenko D, Garcia G, Siyahjani F, et al. 651 Longitudinal, unobtrusive, and ecologically valid sleep metric estimation from a smart bed to predict the pathology of COVID-19. Sleep. 2021 May 3;44(Suppl 2):A255.

5. Garcia-Molina G, Jiang J. Interbeat interval-based sleep staging: work in progress toward real-time implementation. Physiol Meas. 2022 Mar 17;43(2). 

6. Khosla S, Deak MC, Gault D, et al; American Academy of Sleep Medicine Board of Directors. Consumer sleep technology: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement. J Clin Sleep Med. 2018 May 15;14(5):877-80. 7. Ananth S. Sleep apps: current limitations and challenges. Sleep Sci. 2021 Jan-Mar;14(1):83-6.

7. Ananth S. Sleep apps: current limitations and challenges. Sleep Sci. 2021 Jan-Mar;14(1):83-6.

Photo: Sleep Number incorporated temperature sensors for the first time in its latest product, the Climate360 Smart Bed, allowing individualized heating and cooling on both sides of the bed.

Photo credit: Sleep Number