Forcing couples to share a single sleeping space every night might be humanity’s most divisive practice. Sleep Number seems like the only company trying to actively maintain peace in the bedroom, and its latest efforts for maintaining nighttime civility is a new climate-controlled mattress that allows each sleeper to dial in their own preferred temperature.
Sleep Number first made a name for itself with its line of adjustable air-filled mattresses that allowed a pair of sleepers to each select how firm or soft they wanted their side of the bed to be. The preferred setting was known as a user’s Sleep Number, and over the years the company has introduced many ways to make it easier to fine-tune its beds for a good night’s sleep, including its smart SleepIQ technology which tracks movements and breathing patterns to help narrow down which comfort settings are ideal, as well as automatic adjustments in the middle of the night to silence a snorer.
At CES 2017, the company’s Sleep Number 360 bed introduced a new feature that learned each user’s bedtime routines and then automatically pre-heated the foot of the bed to a specific temperature to make falling asleep easier and more comfortable. At CES 2020, the company is now expanding on that idea with its new Climate360 smart bed that can heat and cool the entire mattress based on each user’s dozing preferences.
Using a combination of sensors, advanced textiles, phase change materials (a material that can absorb or release energy to aid in heating and cooling), evaporative cooling, and a ventilation system, the Climate360 bed can supposedly create and maintain a separate microclimate on each side of the bed, and make adjustments throughout the night based on each sleeper’s movements which indicate a level of discomfort. What isn’t built into the bed is a full air conditioning system, however, so the bed can only cool each side by about 12 degrees, but is able to warm them up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit if you prefer to sleep in an inferno.
The Climate360 bed goes through automatic routines throughout the night that Sleep Number has determined to be ideal for achieving a more restful sleep, including gently warming the bed ahead of bedtime to make it easier to drift off, and then cooling it once each user is asleep to help keep them comfortable.
A good night’s sleep doesn’t come cheap, though. When the Climate360 smart bed becomes available sometime in 2021, it will sell for a jaw-dropping $US8,000 ($11,535), but that price tag does include its own adjustable base. But for that price you could instead get 657 years worth of melatonin tablets on Amazon.