Parks Points

Consumer concerns about their health have increased year-over-year. One in four report being very concerned about a lack of quality sleep, compared with just 16% in 2016.

A consistent lack of quality sleep can contribute to a host of medical conditions, such as depression, obesity, dementia, and other chronic illnesses. Yet, Americans’ sleep quality and quantity continue to decline. Sleep tracking features of smart watches and fitness trackers—the most commonly adopted sleep tech solutions on market currently—are raising consumer awareness about lack of sleep. Still, once a consumer understands their sleep patterns—what, then, to do about it?

In 2018, a range of companies are evaluating the opportunity to provide more actionable sleep solutions and assessing the ability of sleep tech to add value and differentiation to their products. Companies targeting this space include mattress manufacturers, retailers, medical device manufacturers, consumer electronics manufacturers, smart home and residential security providers, and smart home device manufacturers.

The next phase of sleep tech will make much greater strides in helping consumers actually improve sleep, through integration with other products and more comprehensive data sources. To achieve more personalized, contextually-relevant, and actionable sleep tech solutions, integrations with connected products across the home may be necessary to prove sleep tech value to users and truly improve their sleep.

For more information on this topic, see Parks Associates’ Sleep & IoT: Behaviors, Awareness, and Opportunities.