Best 2021 sleep tracker: Manage your nightly well-being with ease

 

(Pocket-lint) - Sleep is a bit of a unifier - after all, we all do it. There's no way around it. More than that, we all have to do it. It's an activity that most of us spend upwards of 30 percent of our time doing on this planet, so it should not be shocking that prioritization is worthwhile.

Then, as with the rest of our health and well-being, it makes sense that a vast number of alternatives have arisen to allow you to keep track of your sleep, both in terms of how much you get and the quality of that rest. We're in the middle of a data revolution, and a part of it is your sleep.

So, if you want to get on board and begin monitoring how well you spend your time in bed, what do you do with some of the best trackers on the market? We've put together this handy list of all the best options for you. You're in luck. Before moving on to some wearable options, we'll start with some dedicated bed monitors.

Withings Sleep Analyzer

Withings knows what it's doing with sleep monitoring, and for years it has been doing it. Great proof of that fact is the Withings Sleep Analyzer. It's a flat sensor that slides under your mattress and wirelessly syncs with your phone to provide you with everyday insights. It will keep track of the phases of your sleep and give you a sleep score every night, which is currently replicated by most systems.

It's the precision that gets Withings across the line - it very efficiently monitors sleep and lets you know when you haven't had a good night's sleep, so you can try to fix it. The fact that without you thinking about turning it on or failing to do so, it's just under your bed doing its magic is a huge bonus.

Beddit 3.5 Sleep Monitor

Beddit's sleep tracking is so strong that a few years ago, Apple had to buy it out, signaling that sleep tracking is now a big company. It's a flat tracker for your bed, like Withings Sleep, except it goes under the sheets above your mattress. If you have iOS apps or an Apple Watch, the Apple link-up makes it a perfect companion.

However, it's a little harder to get your hands on and it's a lot more costly - and getting it over your mattress means that delicate sleepers can not find that it makes them relax. Even it tracks a wide variety of details and clearly displays it to you.

S+ by ResMed

Our final non-wearable monitor is from ResMed and is a tracker that is fully non-contact. It sits on your bedside and records readings of light, noise, and temperature to let it know how you sleep. It will look at how the sleep of your night was and give you advice on how to make it better via the paired smartphone app.

It's a good device, and being totally different means that your comfort will really not be affected at all. The downside is that it can get confused very quickly if you share a room, and it is very sensitive to where you position it to get good results, which means that if you knock off your location, you can find yourself untracked.

Fitbit Versa 2

The obvious name is Fitbit, if you think less of a standalone tracker, and more along the lines of a fitness tracker that can also control your sleep. The tracking giant is being acquired by Google and when it comes to fitness info, has real pedigree.

In particular, we like the Versa 2, a lightweight smartwatch with some great features like Amazon's Alexa on board, but also the gamut of great fitness tracking that is impressively precise, including sleep tracking. Plus, you don't have to fear that wearing it overnight would kill your ability to monitor your sleep, with a strong week-long battery life.

Apple Watch Series 6

It took Apple a little while to get there but its stellar smartwatch range has finally introduced sleep tracking. The catch here is a good one, though - the battery life of the watch means that if you want it to last a night of monitoring, you'll need to find time to charge during the day.

Even the data you get is solid, and the wake-up alarms on your wrist are nice and subtle. If you're already an Apple fan, it might be a low-frills way to get into monitoring by using your watch to monitor your sleep.

Withings Steel HR Sport

However, our final pick sees us returning to Withings, where we began. It also makes a number of very cool smartwatch hybrids that are limited but have plenty of monitoring on board when it comes to displays. You can get an analogue watch face, but a small monitor allows you to see key details or manually pick a tracking type for the Steel HR Sport.

It will let you keep track of your well-being surreptitiously, and as a result of heart rate sensing on board, its sleep monitoring is also present and right. It's not as precise as the dedicated sleep system, but it's valuable because you can wear it overnight and forget about it while still getting data back.