Have a Good Night

There was a time when, as a kid, I’d come in from a long day of playing outside with friends, eat my share of Hamburger Helper, watch a little of Little House on the Prairie on the cabinet TV, and then get tucked in for the night, dropping off quickly for a good night of rest.

But those days are long gone. 

Sleep, good sleep, the kind of sleep that leaves you rested and refreshed when the sun comes up the next day, well, that’s the stuff of dreams around here. Toss, turn, get up, lay back down, toss and turn some more, that’s more the speed these days. 

If you’re like me, you’ve tried the routines and the ear plugs and the blackout shades on the windows and the warm baths. But what do you do if those things aren’t optimizing your sleep the way you’d hoped? There are some interesting sleep advances and tech on the market today that are designed for making your sleep dream a reality. Check out these new innovations.

1. 😴Not Just Jammies…Smart Pajamas 

Believe it or not, there’s technology out there that can be woven right into what you wear. Enter smart pajamas, sleepwear developed by researchers at Cambridge University. These pajamas monitor your breathing, check in on how much snoring you’re doing, teeth grinding, breathing patterns, and can record how often you’re waking through the night. The pajamas are able to do all that through fabric sensors in the garments themselves. Professor Luigi Occhipinti, who has been part of the technology development, says, “We need something that is comfortable and easy to use every night, but is accurate enough to provide meaningful information about sleep quality.” 1

The goal of smart pajamas is that they will be a tool you and your healthcare provider can use to monitor your sleep quality and to make adjustments to your healthcare as needed. Researchers feel that smart pajama technology will also give a more accurate assessment of your sleep habits, since they are worn while sleeping in your own bed, rather than in a sleep lab. Soon, the fabric may also be available for monitoring an infant’s sleep and for other patient groups.

2. 🛏️Cooling Beds that Soothe Night Sweats

If you and your spouse feel like you’re living by very different interpretations of temperature in your house, you’re not alone. Almost 60% of couples say that they disagree about what the climate should be in their bedroom. 2 That’s not metaphorical language; it really is about the arguments caused about where the thermostat should be set and how many blankets should be on the bed. 

In addition to the prevalence of temperature mismatch with couples, perimenopause symptoms may also impact the couple’s sleep conversation. While mattresses offering different temperature settings have been on the market for several years now, a new innovation has just become available. For women dealing with hot flashes, Eight Sleep has now developed a “Hot Flash Mode.” This mode when activated is able to quickly cool the bed through cool water sent through water-based layers of the mattress pad system.  According to clinical trials, this technology reduced hot flashes by 55% and provided hot flash relief in ten minutes.

3. 💍Sleep on Your Finger, Sleep on Your Wrist

Sleep apnea, a common experience in adults, happens when you pause in your breathing during sleep. For those who deal with sleep apnea, the impact is significant on overall health. It can lead to daytime sleepiness or drowsiness, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and irritability. Untreated, it can also result in heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and depression.

But diagnosing sleep apnea can be tricky. New advances are now available to better identify breathing issues during sleep:

  • Pulse oximeters shaped as a ring that the patient can wear on their finger have been approved by the FDA. 4   This at-home monitoring system for sleep apnea is now considered the gold-standard for helping diagnose sleep apnea issues.
  • Researchers at Icahn School of Medicine have developed an AI model that can successfully analyze brain activity, movement, heart rate, and breathing data to summarize sleep stages of patients. “This AI-driven approach has the potential to revolutionize sleep research,” says co-senior corresponding author  Girish N. Nadkarni, MD and MPH. “By analyzing entire nights of sleep with greater consistency, we can uncover deeper insights into sleep health and its connection to overall well-being.” 5

4. 🔬Newly Announced Sleep Research Initiative

Resmed, a leading health technology company focused on sleep, breathing, and care delivered in the home, announced at the World Sleep Congress a worldwide initiative focused on understanding and improving sleep health. This initiative will be called Sleep Institute and will help make healthy sleep a global health priority. Sleep Institute will conduct non-commercial studies and research on sleep and sleep disorders. Resmed’s vice president of health research Kimberly L. Sterling says, “It’s about moving from awareness to action — giving global health and policy leaders the insights they need to close today’s care gaps and shape tomorrow’s sleep medicine.” 6

When Faith Meets Sleep Innovation

While all the new tech and research on sleep could work wonders for the restless and the sleep-deprived, sleep and faith also go together:

 “Come to me, all who are weary… and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:24

“He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” Psalm 121:3-4

If you’re struggling with a racing mind, anxiety, or worries when you know you should be getting sleep, the Altrua Ministries team is here for you, whether you’re a Member of Altrua HealthShare or not. Altrua Ministries director Heather Nanni oversees prayer requests that come into the ministry, and having someone pray over you for better sleep is a profound way to connect with God and release the stress of life. You can submit your prayer request by going to https://altruaministries.org/prayer/.

1 https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/scientists-develop-smart-pyjamas-to-monitor-sleep-disorders#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20developed%20comfortable%2C%20washable,be%20affected%20by%20lifestyle%20changes.
2 https://sleep.me/post/help-for-couples-who-argue-about-sleep-temperature
3 https://www.eightsleep.com/hot-flash/
4 https://aasm.org/apnimed-announces-positive-results-in-clinical-trial-of-sleep-apnea-medication-2-2/
5 https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2025/new-ai-model-analyzes-full-night-of-sleep-with-high-accuracy-in-largest-study-of-its-kind
6 https://investor.resmed.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/409/resmed-launches-sleep-institute-to-elevate-sleep-health-as-a-global-priority