SLEEP Number has announced the latest upgrades to its 360 smart beds, improving some of their built-in sensors and adding on surrounding tech like lights and mobility accessories that it calls “smart furniture.” While its smart furniture looks like those fancy headboards with built-in shelves, Sleep Number says it was built to support sleep health and make its beds more accessible. For example, the smart furniture includes mobility aids to help sleepers who may need extra help entering or exiting the bed. It also features individual audio and noise reduction technology meant to block out environmental noise and has built-in reading lights, charging ports and storage areas. Lastly, the furniture has ambient lighting designed to help maintain normal circadian rhythms. As for the bed itself, Sleep Number seems particularly keen to position the 360 bed as a potential healthcare tool, though overall. Sleep Number says the new 360 bed can continuously monitor a person’s general wellness, sleep health behaviors, chronic sleep issues, and generate real-time insights and suggestions for sleepers, their caregivers, and doctors. It says that over time, the bed’s AI can identify abnormal events and notify the sleeper that something is off. Sleep Number says its improved sensing capabilities move it closer to a future where it can proactively alert users of oncoming illness and risks for conditions like insomnia, sleep apnea, or cardiac events. This does not mean Sleep Number’s beds can diagnose any of these medical conditions right now. Sleep Number says that it has used over 12 billion hours of sleep data to “significantly innovate its 360 smart bed.” Aside from software updates, physical updates include small changes like adding “high-tech textiles,” antimicrobial components, and graphite-infused foam that supposedly keeps sleepers cool by encouraging airflow. Sleep Number noted that the new beds will be able to actively monitor body temperature to create “microclimates,” as well as tilt the bed to improve airflow by elevating the head without sacrificing spinal alignment. The new 360 smart beds will be available in 2023, with prices starting at US$1,099.(SD-Agencies) | 