Interview with Tempur-Pedic Culminates in Announcement of Their TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Bases with SleepTracker

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If you’ve been doing research before purchasing a new mattress, you’ve likely seen that Tempur-Pedic maks some of the best mattresses that you can buy. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Tom Murray, Senior Vice President and Marketing Officer of Tempur Sealy International, as well as Allen Platek, Vice President of Product Development.

I came into this interview thinking that I knew a lot about proper sleep, but I left after more than just the typical conversation about “the makings of a better bed”. The conversation revolved around Tempur-Pedic-Pedic’s Sleeptracker, their integrated sleep response system on the market that is being released today. 

Tempur-Pedic has a rich history of delivering the best options for transformative sleep, and we continue that tradition today. With the advent of our TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Base Collection with Sleeptracker technology, and our recently-launched TEMPUR-breeze line of mattresses, we are tackling two of the biggest obstacles that prevent people from getting a good night’s sleep: snoring and sleeping hot. – Scott Thompson, Tempur Sealy President and CEO

The bed has all of the bells and whistles that you’d expect from a bed that’s smart enough to connect to Alexa and Google Assistant, but we need to focus on what you came here for — Sleep tracking.

Paired with a Tempur-Pedic mattress such as the Tempur-Breeze, the SleepTracker app will connect to the things you use to make yourself more comfortable at night like your thermostat and more. Not only that, within the SleepTracker app, you’ll be able to get a better idea of how you’re sleeping, using various metrics such as heart rate, breathing, overall bedroom temperature and more. I was surprised that the sleep system will automatically adjust itself to your sleep with internal sensors that won’t wake you. 

The reason for this is because Allen and his team of various engineers, scientists and plenty of other variables have spent the past few years fine-tuning every small detail to make sure that the Smart Base, would be able to use bio, sleep, and environmental metrics to measure sleep efficiency, giving you a customized sleep report. Being able to see your sleep score helps indicate your sleep quality; having it range from 0 to 100 factors in your total sleep, as well as how quickly you fall asleep and the time spent in various phases — which is perfect for someone like me who tends to wake up in the middle of the night for unknown reasons.

With this data, you’ll get personalized sleep coaching, even if you have a spouse (the smart base does come in a model that can work for couples). Of course, when talking with Tim and Allen, I had plenty of questions, and they were kind enough to answer them below:

  1. The mattress market seems to be a booming one, with companies releasing mattresses left and right. We’ve tested quite a few of those standard ones, but what makes Tempur-Pedic want to release a smart sleep system?

Contrary to all the buzz, when you think about purchasing a mattress and innovation in the mattress industry, convenience of shopping/delivery should not be the ultimate focus. There are many bed-in-a-box players today but the true innovators in the space and sleep experts are solving the big sleep issues with research and industry-leading testing.

Through our mission, we are committed to improving the sleep of more people, every night, all around the world. We are continuing to reinvent the way people sleep and to drive innovation that ensures more people can experience their best sleep. The upcoming launch of the TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Bases with Sleeptracker technology, and our recently launched TEMPUR-breeze mark the culmination of nearly 3 million hours of R&D to solve people’s 2 biggest sleep challenges: being too warm and snoring.

  1. One of the most intriguing parts about smart sleeping systems are their promises of things you never really ask for but sound great like adaptive room temperature and lighting. Could you tell our readers a bit more about the product?

Synchronizing with the Tempur-Pedic mattress, TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Bases with Sleeptracker technology silently sense and automatically respond to sleepers throughout the night to deliver the following benefits:

Automatic Snore Detection and Response: Based on more than a decade of sleep science advances, discrete sensors can automatically distinguish snoring and the base responds by adjusting a sleeper’s head position. This can deliver deep, uninterrupted sleep in otherwise healthy individuals who snore due to body positioning and who otherwise maintain a healthy lifestyle including diet and regular exercise.

Personalized Sleep Insights: By monitoring the sleeper’s heart rate, breathing, deep and light sleep, and their room’s environmental conditions, the sleeper receives personalized coaching, analytics and sleep strategies to improve their sleep.

Smart Home Connectivity with Voice Control: Compatible with Google Home and Alexa, simple voice commands allow people to automatically sync their home to their sleep to adjust the position of their base, get daily sleep reports and personalized sleep tips.

  1. A good mattress in 2019 and going forward is much more than its firmness, breathability, and cost. As someone who monitors their sleep with extra gadgets underneath my mattress as well as apps on my watch and phone, I’m pretty intrigued in how Tempur-Pedic plans on using AI and sleep science to showcase how good or bad a users sleep can be. Could you tell us how you plan on addressing the technology in your product with science and AI?

For starters, we believe there are only upsides to improving your sleep, and in fact, maintaining a consistent sleep schedule is one of the most important things you can do to get more sleep and improve the quality of your sleep.

With industry-leading sensing technology and real-time analytics, Tempur-Pedic Sleeptracker is the only fully integrated sleep system that provides all-night-insight. With customized coaching designed to guide you to deeper, more rejuvenating sleep. Some of the most useful data points for sleepers include:

Sleep Score Sleeptracker® makes it easy to rate sleep, with your “Sleep Score”. For example, there are people with a sleep score of 50 out of 100 initially who after a few months of using Sleeptracker® improved their sleep score to 75, and continue to improve after that. The ideal sleeper will look for a sleep score of 90+ over time. But many healthy individuals function well at 75 or above.

Sleep Efficiency is the percentage of time spent sleeping. For example, spending 8 hours in bed and 6 of those hours asleep is a sleep efficiency of 75%. Some people start at 50%, and after a few months reach a sleep efficiency of 75% and continue improving incrementally. With an 85% sleep efficiency or higher, you are doing well.

Bedtime, Rise time Sticking to a consistent bed time and rise time 7 days a week leads to healthy sleep habits. Detailed sleep reports that outline your sleep schedule are emailed to the end user every day.

Heart rate trends and consistency Sleeptracker® measures your heart rate continuously throughout the night and produces an easy to understand line graph. Sleep is your recovery mechanism, and you will notice the more restful your sleep, the lower your heart rate when you wake up. Throughout the night as sleep rebuilds your body, your heart rate decreases in small steady increments.

Environmental conditions Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Humidity, Temperature, CO2. For example, you may average more deep sleep when your house is 68 degrees instead of 70. You may also notice VOC’s build-up causing you to wake up mid-morning when your bedroom door is closed when its open VOC’s are lower and you are not as prone to early morning wake-ups.

  1. In terms of integrations such as Phillips Hue and Nest, are there any plans for opening your platform to Google Assistant, Siri and Amazon Alexa?

With the new base collection sleepers have access to smart home connectivity with voice control – compatible with Google Home and Alexa at launch, simple voice commands allow people to automatically sync their home to their sleep to adjust the position of their base, get daily sleep reports and personalized sleep tips.

  1. For the average person who may have only heard of Tempur-Pedic from commercials during sporting events or a Google Search, what’s your method of getting the average consumer that doesn’t necessarily want “a smart brand” to take a chance on the new sleep system products?

In addition to our advertising, we have broad distribution through our Tempur-Pedic retail stores and across our retail channel so that customers who are seeking information on new products can do so at these stores and get a first-hand view of the product’s features, have their questions answered and learn more about which may be the best option for them.

We have a range of products to address the spectrum of sleepers’ needs — from the new smart sleep solution to our recently-launched Tempur-breeze mattresses that feel up to 8 degrees cooler all night, along with firmness and feel options, and so if the someone may not be looking for the added features now available with the new bases, there are still many products for them to consider.

  1. What do you feel is the best sleep setting for a couple, both stomach & side sleepers?

Whether you’re a stomach, side or back sleeper, our unique TEMPUR-material is artfully designed to respond to each sleeper’s unique shape and weight, and automatically adapt to support each sleeper’s body and sleep style. Since each person sleeps differently, there is no perfect fit for every sleeper but there are a few generalities that may help guide you in the right direction: side sleepers are typically more comfortable with a softer mattress; back sleepers will likely be comfortable with a medium-firm mattress; stomach sleepers may be best with a firmer mattress.

The Tempur line has a range of firmness and feel offerings to meet preferences of side, back or stomach sleepers – soft, medium, medium hybrid, and firm. A split king is a great option for couples with ranging sleep needs to consider, as it provides them the ability to customize the firmness and base settings as well.

  1. Do you plan on including White Glove services with your beds? Meaning not only would you deliver, but you remove older mattresses. What exactly do you do with the mattresses you remove if you do?

We’re proud to include this in our offering already. When it comes to getting your new Tempur-Pedic mattress, the Tempur-Pedic delivery process makes getting a new mattress a breeze. There’s no fussing with boxes and trying to lift and unravel it onto a frame. Our included White Glove Delivery includes delivery, in-home set-up, and removal of your old mattress and box spring.

The company is committed to sustainability on many levels, and old mattresses are recycled for all of their components and made into products such as carpet padding and steel components in a variety of industries.

As someone who’s tried many brands, I’m intrigued to see what the Tempur Sealy have to offer with their Smart Base Collection. The TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Base Collection will have two options when it is released in North America in August, with it releasing elsewhere later this year and into the year 2020.

  • The TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Base will retail for $1,799 for the Queen Size
  • The TEMPUR-Ergo Extend Smart Base (which just in what I’ve been shown and the data that I’ve been given looks to be the best power base on the market)— comes complete with four massage zones, their patented PerfectSeat technology that allows the mattress to sit in a more natural position to relax and watch television, including Pillow Tilt and increased weight capacity, which will cost $2,199 for a queen.

For more information regarding the new TEMPUR-Ergo Smart Base collection, head over to Tempur Sealy

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About the Author

Greg Alston
Diehard Apple fanboy, and lover of all things tech. Born and raised in Washington, DC, Greg enjoys spending time with his wife, family, and friends, live sporting events, good bourbon, Tetris, and pizza. In that order.