Top 7 Gadgets for Your Bedroom
As technology has advanced at a breakneck pace and infiltrated nearly every area of our lives, there's still one place where most of us have yet to go high-tech—and that is the bedroom. Which is pretty ironic if you think about it, because after all, our bedrooms are our sanctuaries, the places we go to be our most relaxed—why wouldn't we want handy, time-saving technology there? Here's 7 of our top recommendations for new tech that will help you upgrade your bedroom with some 21st century convenience, whether you're getting some sweet sleep or just maxing and relaxing.
1. Weighted Blanket
The idea behind weighted blankets is to simulate the soothing feeling and close comfort of cuddling, and the goal is to give you a little leg up on getting relaxed before bed to help you have an easier time falling asleep. If you find yourself restless or tossing and turning a lot at bedtime, a weighted blanket may be just what you're missing. A popular brand of weighted blanket is the Gravity Blanket.
2. ChiliPAD
The ChiliPAD is a great tech upgrade for you if your main barrier to a restful sleep is just getting to the right temperature. The ChiliPAD is a mattress pad that is connected by a microtube to a temperature-regulating container which you fill with water. The container, called the Cube, is then connected to a remote, which you (and your partner, if you purchase a dual pad) can use to control the temperature of your pad. The temp ranges from 55 degrees to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. If you want to learn more about the relationship between sleep and your body temp, check out our post on the subject here!
3. Programmable Thermostat
While we're on the subject of the optimal temperature for sleep, a great investment for anyone looking for a smarter way to keep their whole house feeling juuusst right is a programmable thermostat. Our recommended go-to option is the ever-popular Nest, which works as a regular thermostat, but also learns the behaviors of your house (such as when you like to start cooling down in the evening) and automatically begins to work on this schedule. Combine this with the fact that you can control Nest from your phone, and the fact that it helps save you money on your energy bill, and it's hard to imagine a smarter way to regulate your temperature at home.
4. Sleep Tracker
If you're looking to improve your sleep, getting a sleep tracker is a great place to start. Wearables like the all-around health tracker FitBit are able to give you detailed information about the length of your sleep, the quality of your sleep, and how often you were in the different stages of sleep. While we can't vouch for the pinpoint accuracy of the data collected by sleep trackers (simply due to the limits of current available technology), we can definitely say that trackers do a great job of encouraging sleep consistency, which might be just the most important factor of sleep health. Not a fan of wearing a watch to bed? Apple users out there can check out Beddit, a thin, lightweight strap which goes under your sheet and connects to an iOS mobile app to track your sleep data for you.
5. Google Home
What could be more convenient than voice activation? Putting a Google Home in your bedroom gives you the opportunity to check the weather, get dinner ideas, play your music, or (naturally) Google something all from the comfort of your bed using just your voice. (And now you can even control a Reverie bed too!)
6. Mobile app for your power base
Now that our phones these days are basically computers that fit our pockets, there's practically no limit to what we can do with simply a few taps of a button. Now you can add adjusting your power bed to the list! If you have a Reverie power base equipped with Bluetooth® technology, then you're also able to download our Reverie Nightstand™ app on your mobile device, which connects to your power bed and provides you with a whole slew of new comfort and convenience features at no extra cost. Want to schedule an alarm for 7:30 where your bed gently rises to wake you every morning, or schedule a half-hour massage in the head-up position before bed? Reverie Nightstand can do all this and more. Find it on Apple's App Store today!
7. Sunlight wakeup alarm
If you don't already know, your morning alarm (and accompanying snooze button) are doing you no favors. As a gentler option, we'd suggest a sunlight alarm for a gentler alternative. These nifty new alarms simulate the glow of a sunrise to wake you up in the morning (in place of a blaring alarm tone), allowing for a much more natural wake-up thanks to the energizing biological response to sunlight your body is already wired to have.
We hope these recommendations help make relaxing in your bedroom just a little easier, and your sleep just a little sweeter. And don't forget—there's no replacement for keeping up good sleep hygiene!