Sense: Smart Sleep Aid

The first smart sleep sensor to combine data on your sleep patterns with data from your bedroom environment raised more than $100,000 in a few hours on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter.

Designed by San Francisco-based start-up Hello, Sense includes a coin-sized accelerometer, which clips to your pillow to track movement, and an elegant orb that sits on the nightstand, monitoring conditions in the bedroom.

Sense's array of sensors detect noise (from inside and outside the bedroom) and light levels, as well as temperature and humidity. The sensors also detect particulates such as dust and pollen – helpful for those with allergies.

This data comes together on the Sense app, which gives users a score out of 100, based on the sensor data and how soundly the user slept. The app also charts interruptions in the user's sleep cycle by logging light and sound disturbances.

Sense can help put users to sleep by playing natural sounds or white noise, and wake them up with its 'smart' alarm function, which only goes off when the user stirs close to their alarm time.

The designers have placed considerable emphasis on making the technology invisible – nothing is attached to the body, the accelerometer doesn't require charging (batteries last a year) and the orb is aesthetically pleasing.

As the pace of life accelerates, getting a good night's sleep is becoming a priority for more and more consumers – and brands can help. For insight into how the hospitality industry is addressing sleeplessness, see Insomnia: Something to Sleep On and Snore-Free Rooms.