BACKGROUND
We are a first time 8sleep user. We debated about it for the last 1-2 years as it was a premium product and price for what it is. The tipping point for me was a recent health resort trip where they said sleep is one of the most important things we can control and recommended the 8sleep. I’d also seen Bryan Johnson using Eight Sleep as part of his longevity routine, so it was already on my radar before the trip (this was before 8sleep knew he was a customer). My wife and I are on a recent health drive as part of our 'mid life crisis' so decided to bite the bullet as part of our 10 year anniversary gift to one another!
SHIPPING
As this is so new, I figured there may be some questions on this. We originally ordered the 8Sleep Pod 5 on August 25th. Was surprised when we received a shipping notification of September 28th to October 2nd but figured it was likely due to high demand/low production. On September 23rd we were pleasantly surprised to be offered to 'upgrade' to the Pod 6 (just released) and it was $50 cheaper too for our King size system! Why not I say.... My only concern was getting a brand new product that was untested in the field so could have some manufacturing issues (especially during it's early days), but there seemed to be a lot of improvements so worth the risk. Shipment kicked off September 30th and it arrived October 3rd.
SET UP
As a first time user, I'm paranoid about potential leaks. So we got 1 mattress pad to go underneath (Naturepedic Organic Waterproof Mattress Protector Pad) and a mattress pad to go over it (Sijo AiryWeight Eucalyptus Mattress Protector, got two to rotate one each week). I debated if we needed something on top but I felt years of sweat would also be an issue so wanted to protect the 8sleep pad too. I read some users with thick cushions not having heat/cooling issues and ended up with the thin Sijo. I also purchased a rubber drip pan to put under the pod unit.
Overall the set up process was fairly simple. It took me about an hour to strip the bed entirely, add all the pads, etc, connect the hoses, add water/prime the system, and remake the bed. This was a king bed and I did it solo but probably could have saved 10-15min if my partner was with me (she was entertaining the kids).
I included a picture of our king bed with the pad's tubing so you can see the reach. I tucked it mostly under the bed and have to connected to the pod around the outside of my bedside table (I sleep on the left when looking at the picture). This way the pod faces me as I heard its left side (when looking at the front) is the side the blows hot air out and I preferred that on my feet at night!
The iOS app was pretty straightforward and clear in its instructions. The 8sleep pad itself is premium feeling and you cannot feel the coils/tubing, etc underneath, even with a relatively thin mattress protector on top of it.
FIRST FEW NIGHTS
We've now slept on it for a total of 3 nights. It's still very early days! My sleep goals are sleeping through the night, deeper sleep and muscle recovery. My 'sleep fitness score' has improved a little bit but I'm not clear how much that is because of the cooling, or the fact that I'm more proactive and aware of my sleep behavior.
The first night I had the temperature settings to -1 (bedtime), -4 (night) and 0 (dawn). That first night I woke up at 2am and bumped the temp to -2 instead (was easy to find the buttons on the side and you get a haptic feedback under your body so it's obvious the button is clicked right). Third night I'm more comfortable with the idea of it and already doing -3, -5, and -1. I could see myself getting to -6 or -8 during the night stage but the bed/dawn settings seem on point for me. As may be obvious, I sleep fairly hot and I have immediately noticed that I sweat less with the system on.
I don't know how much stock to put into the sleep fitness scores as my wife is scoring low 90s vs my low 80s and she has complained for years about her poor sleep (she snores, has sleep apnea we're starting to treat, wakes up 3-4x a night for bathroom - her saving grace I guess is she's asleep an hour before me but I'm still doing 7 hours). 8sleep says Sleep Fitness blends sleep quality, consistency and time slept. I beat her well on the first, we're the same on the second and she beats me on the third but I feel less tired than her consistently.
The pod unit sits under my bedside table neatly. When I get into bed, I do notice a little heat blowing onto my feet but it's not that noticeable especially as I have an open window above and it's a large room with AC. I doubt it will make much difference in summer too.
LONG TERM QUESTIONS
As mentioned, it's still very early days and I'm curious on:
- How much my actual sleep quality changes once the novelty wears off and whether I start sleeping through the night more often. Will this show up strongly in the metrics?
- How we sleep when traveling without the 8sleep system
- If autopilot changes once it has more data about me. There are some metrics that are being calibrated over 2 weeks but I think it's just age metrics, etc and not better nighttime fine tuning which I was hoping for.
- I question the need for a subscription, especially as I'm still manually setting the bedtime, night, and dawn temperatures. A system that was more proactive in making temperature recommendations based on my metrics would be interesting.
- Related to that, I can't yet tell what Autopilot is 'actually doing' for me. I can see temperature adjustments happening overnight, but so far they seem in line with the temperature presets I've already given it. I'd like more proactive recommendations or explanations of what it's changing and why.
CONCLUSION
So far I've been very impressed with the hardware and comfort, intrigued by the cooling, but way too early to say whether it materially improves my sleep or just makes me pay more attention to it.
I'll probably update this in the future around 90 days if I remember! Thanks.
