It seems like there are no shortage of devices and ways to measure your sleep these days. There are dozens of watches, rings, apps, and sensors that are all designed to give you detailed data about your sleep duration and depth.
The problem is that most of these require you to wear a device while you sleep. That’s another device to remember to put on, to charge, and to keep updated.
So when I first heard about the Withings Sleep Tracking Mat about a year ago, I knew that I had to give it a try.
Withings Sleep Mat
The Sleep Tracking Mat by Withings is a wireless device that slides underneath your mattress to instantly turn any bed into a personal sleep lab. After a brief calibration phase, the Sleep mat can detect heartbeats, movement, and even breathing disturbances. The Health Mate app makes this data easy to understand so that you can improve your sleep quality.
Setting Up The Sleep Mat
The best part about the Withings Sleep Tracking Mat is how easy it is to set up.
Simply slide it underneath your mattress so that it’s directly below your chest when you’re sleeping and plug it into an outlet.
That’s it. Really!
As soon as it’s plugged in, the Sleep will begin a calibration process that can take up to 10 minutes. This process helps the Sleep Mat to determine how thick your mattress is and what it’s made of so that it can more accurately read your movements and heartbeat.
You can watch the video below to see how easy it is to set up:
I should note that Withings recommend you stay out of the bed while the Sleep Mat is calibrating. So it’s best to set it up at least a few minutes before going to bed or taking a nap (yes, the Sleep Mat can intelligently detect and track your naps, too).
As someone who has tried almost every other sleep device under the sun, the Withings Sleep Mat is the only one I’ve actually stuck with because you can truly set it and forget it. There is nothing to wear, charge, or update.
The Sleep Mat will automatically detect when you get into bed, how long you’re asleep, how many times you got up or tossed and turned during the night. It will also track your heart rate, showing both your resting heart rate (a good indicator of overall health) and peak heart rate (typically experienced during REM sleep).
All of this data is then crunched by the Health Mate app to give you a concise sleep score so that you can understand how well you were able to rest.
Health Mate App
The Withings Sleep Tracking App is ideal for two kinds of people: Those who want to casually track their sleep, and those who want to actively improve it.
Thanks to the Health Mate app, you can check your stats every morning to see if you slept better or worse than the night before.
This comes in handy when you’re trying to see what impact your habits, bed time, and even dinner choices can have on your sleep quality.
For example, I used to be a compulsive snacker at night (peanut butter pretzel bites are my kryptonite). One day I got curious if this habit was having any impact on my sleep, so I went for two weeks without a single snack.
Low and behold, my sleep actually did improve slightly. I tended to fall asleep about 10% faster on average, and I had slightly more restorative REM sleep.
Since getting the Sleep Mat, I’ve run several experiments like that, and each time I learned something new about how my habits affect my sleep. Even though I do still snack at night on occasion (nobody’s perfect!), at least now I know what the cost might be in terms of how rested I’ll feel the next day.
The best part about having a Sleep Mat is that I no longer wonder why I’m tired. I can easily check the Health Mate app and see that it’s because I took longer to fall asleep than usual, or because my sleep quality wasn’t as good. Just knowing that information gives me more peace of mind.
Of course, the Health Mate app also plays well with Apple Health on iOS and Google Fit on Android. So you can sync your sleep times and even send data to other health-related apps like Rise.
Key Takeaway
The Withings Sleep Tracking Mat is a fantastic addition for anyone who is curious about their sleep or wants to feel more rested during the day. (And, let’s be honest, doesn’t that describe all of us?)
It’s one of the few smart gadgets that I refer to anyone regardless of how technical they are or not, because it so simple to set up and to understand. As long as you have a mattress and a smartphone, you can set up a mini sleep lab in your own home.
This sleep tracker is hands-down the easiest way to get insights into your sleep quality.
Patrick Ward