As I may have mentioned at some point before, I don’t sleep well. Not at all. I wake up several times a night, the slightest noise or brightening of the lights disturbs me and it can take me a good couple of hours to fall asleep. Obviously tiredness isn’t good, and a lack of sleep can really take its toll on our physical and mental health. Not ideal for hygge hunting! That’s why I was really excited to get the opportunity to try out the S+ smart sleep solution from ResMed. As someone who’s always looking for ways to get more sleep, this gadget is right up my street – and of course, what fits better into the hygge lifestyle than a product that literally works in your sleep?

The S+ is a no-contact sleep monitor which sits discreetly on your bedside table while you sleep, feeding information about your breathing patterns to an app on your phone (works on iPhones and Androids). It can tell from your breathing whether you’re awake, in light sleep, REM sleep or deep sleep, and this is all available when you wake up in the morning. I have a secret love of data, and with the quantified self movement set to ride high for the foreseeable future, this is information I think a lot of people would find very interesting on its own. For instance, did you know that on 18th March, I got only half the deep sleep I needed?

But what’s really cool about the S+ is that it sends you personalised tips for how to get better sleep based on what it learns about your sleep patterns. This is where it comes in really handy – it’s not just saying ‘Hey, you sleep badly, look at this’, but it’s using that data to help you out. I’ve had little tips pushed through from the app two or three times a day while I’ve been trying it out to tell me how I can improve my sleep based on my data. And this clearly works – US users of the S+ have been getting an average of 45 minutes’ extra sleep after just a week of using the system.

But wait! There’s more! The sensor and the app work in tandem to do some really cool things. For instance, there’s a feature called ‘Relax to Sleep’ which plays a repetitive, soothing sound which SYNCS UP WITH YOUR BREATHING. The closer you creep to falling asleep, the slower your breathing becomes, and the slower the sounds become. It’s super cool and has a surprisingly powerful effect. After just three nights I found myself associating the slowing of the sounds with being closer to falling asleep, and the data shows that I was falling asleep faster with the sounds than without. There is also a smart alarm, which looks at your sleep data and predicts when will be the best time to wake you up (within a timeframe you specify – you can’t use ‘My smart alarm told me I needed to sleep until 10.18am, soz’ as an excuse to be late for work) so you’re not being disturbed in the middle of your sleep cycle. This helps you wake up feeling more refreshed and not, as is usually the case with me, feeling shattered from the moment my eyes open.

The nice thing about the S+ is that it fits really easily into your bedtime routine. There’s no arduous setting up process and you don’t need to worry about wearing a wristband or anything – you just connect it up to the app via wifi and you’re ready to go. And over time, it just gets to know you better, helping you get more, better quality sleep that your body will thank you for tomorrow morning and in years to come. Sleep is so fundamental to a happy, healthy life that this is a gadget I can totally get behind, and it’s a really simple addition you can make to your daily routine that can drastically change the way you feel every day.

And if you’re looking for ways to make bedtime a little bit cosier as we creep towards summer, here’s my pick of the best sleep products I’ve come across in recent weeks…

1. Santorini Bed Linen Collection, The White Company
2. S+ Sleep Tracking System, ResMed
3. Moonlight Jar Candle, Yankee Candle
4. Dreamtime Instant Tea, Whittards
5. Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds bubble bar, Lush
6. Silk blend pillow, John Lewis
7. Aurora Borealis light projector, Amazon
8. Lavender bag, Yawn
9. Pure silk blanket, Cologne & Cotton

Have you ever tried an app to help you sleep? Would you like to try the S+? Let me know if the comments or join the conversation on Twitter with #fixmysleep!

The S+ reviewed in this article was a PR sample; however all opinions are my own