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seeking rights Temperature in bed can be tricky. Feeling too hot or cold can make it harder to let go and wake you up prematurely. Since our mental and physical health depends on sleep, this is a problem. There are eight sleep answers. Eight Sleep Pod 4 is a temperature-regulating mattress cover that tracks your body as you snooze, with a hub that pumps cold or warm water into the cover to help you stay in nod land for longer.
When I tested its predecessor, the Eight Sleep Pod 3 (7/10, Wired recommends), I was wary of the billionaire biohacking buzz, but it won me over. Apart from increased comfort, The best sleep tracker All told the same story: My wife and I slept longer and got more deep sleep and REM than we did with eight sleep pods. Eight Sleep Pod 4 brings some welcome improvements, including more comfort, quieter operation and easy tap controls, so you don’t have to reach for your phone at night.
Photo: Simon Hill
Unfortunately, good sleep doesn’t come cheap. A Pod 4 cover and hub for a queen-size bed costs $2,599, but you’ll also need to pick up a one-year subscription to Autopilot for an additional $199. If you already have a subscription, you can transfer it to a new pod, but you can’t buy another eight sleep pod without taking out an Autopilot subscription. The UK Super King I as tested costs £2,699, with a year of Autopilot for £199. It’s a real investment, but sleeping well can be transformative.
hit the hay
The Eight Sleep Pod 4 cover and hub come in two large boxes. The mattress cover has rubber tubing inside and a soft, plush, dark material on top. It’s elasticized for a snug fit on your mattress, and the tubing must be routed from the top to plug into the hub. The hub is the size of a desktop PC, with a fabric front and a large 8 logo. The hub is the brain of the operation, and it cools or heats the water and pumps it around the cover.
Setup was similar with the Pod 4 but much faster than the Pod 3. You pull the cylinder to the top of the hub and pour water up to the fill line. The priming process is down to about 10 minutes from several hours for the previous version. You connect the hub to your Wi-Fi using the mobile app The Pod 4 cover is much more comfortable than the Pod 3, and the hub is much quieter. It never breaks 30 decibels when measured. It makes a subtle hum, like a White noise is sleep noise.
