Sleep Tech

What sleep tech is available at Best Buy?

Best Buy offers a wide selection of products in the sleep tech category, including sound and white noise machines, light therapy, snoring remedies, and meditation tech.

Regardless of the type of device, the end goal is the same: to help calm and lull you to sleep so you can enjoy a restful night of deep slumber. However, they each work in unique ways. Sound machines provide soothing sounds, like white noise, to mask distracting ones in your environment and create a calming effect. Light therapy devices do much the same using light instead of sounds to help guide you to sleep, or gradually wake you up.

By default, sound machines can also function as snoring remedies, but for the person who has to sleep with a partner who snores versus the snorer themself. There are, however, also snoring remedies for people who actually snore, including anti-snoring sleep masks and nasal strips. Meanwhile, meditation tech takes the idea of sleep aids to another level with devices like brain-sensing headbands, massage mats, and aromatherapy.

What are white noise machines and how do they work?

One of the most popular categories of sleep tech is white noise machines, which produce soothing sounds to help you fall asleep. They can be anywhere from the size of a toaster to the size of a baby monitor and are usually sound machines that provide more than just white noise -- which sounds like radio static -- but also nature sounds like the ocean or a meadow, and other calming sounds like the crackle of a fireplace or the hum of a busy city street.

The sounds are typically a recorded playback: plug the machine in, power it on, select the desired sound, and relax. Some machines have as many as 30 sounds. They can also have features like a timer, light, fan, even adaptive sound that listens to your background and adjusts volume or remixes sound profiles to mask higher levels of unwanted ambient noise when it's detected.

Who can benefit from sleep technology?

People who have trouble falling asleep, or don't get enough restful sleep, can benefit from sleep technology. It's also beneficial for mental wellness, helping to reduce stress and anxiety at night or any time during the day.

Sleep tech might even stimulate serotonin, the chemical in your brain that makes you feel good, contributing to your overall well-being.

The obvious candidates for sleep aids are those who suffer from insomnia, those who sleep in settings where there's a lot of noise, like outdoor traffic or noisy neighbours, and people who have issues sleeping because of a partner or family member who snores loudly. But sleep tech can be useful for anyone.