From Shared Spaces to Separate Sanctuaries: How One Couple’s Bold Decision Boosted Their Health and Happiness

Yoo Jae-hwan, an office worker in his 50s, had a different sleeping experience after changing his bed and pillow. After switching to a bed that allows you to adjust the angle of your body depending on your sleeping pattern, such as whether you sleep on your back or side, your sleep became much deeper. After using a pillow that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze breathing sounds and adjust the height of the pillow, snoring has become much weaker. Mr Yu said, “Thanks to the new bed and pillows, I feel much more refreshed than before when I wake up.”

Sleeptech SMEs and startups are competing to take over the domestic sleep market, which has grown to 3 trillion won. As well as adjusting the height of the bed and pillow to find the best angle for a good night’s sleep, products have also been released that help you get a good night’s sleep by changing the hardness of the mattress and the temperature of the mat. As the number of modern people who cannot sleep properly due to stress and other factors increases, the connected market is expected to continue to grow.

According to the SleepTech industry on the 4th, the health care home appliance company Bodyfriend introduced the ‘La Cloud Health Motion’, a bed that can adjust the angle of the upper and lower body by moving the motion frame, and it is gaining great popularity among ‘ insomnia’. There are four health care modes: ‘Easy on the breath’, ‘Easy on the stomach’, ‘Easy on the waist’, and ‘Easy on the legs’, of which the ‘Easy breathing’ mode is provides a good sleeping environment. Based on the results of research carried out by Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center considering the user’s health status, lifestyle habits, and condition, the height of the motion is adjusted to an angle that allows for comfortable breathing without waking up during sleep.

Coway’s ‘Beerex Smart Mattress’ adjusts the hardness of the mattress according to the user’s choice, body type, and sleeping posture through the slip cell in the mattress and the smart control system. Unlike existing mattresses, it is characterized by a material called slipcell instead of springs. There are 80 sleep cells per queen size, and the firmness of the mattress changes depending on the density of the air injected into the sleep cells.

Through ‘Smart 4 Zone Hardness Control’, it is also possible to adjust it to suit the body type of every part of the body, including shoulders, waist, hips and legs. It is also possible to adjust the hardness of one bed by separating it to the left and right, like two independent beds. It also has functions for sound sleep and relaxation. Stretch cells on the head, waist and legs move repeatedly 3 to 5 times, providing a comfortable sleeping environment through intelligent intensive care that helps relax muscles in each area.

In the pillow sector, which can be said to be the two main pillars of a good night’s sleep together with the bed, the strength of startups is evident. TenMinds AI Pillow Motion helps you sleep well by detecting snoring sounds and inflating the airbag to adjust the height of the pillow. According to TenMinds analysis of 1,893 cases of data from users under the age of 30, snoring time decreased from an average of 76 minutes when not using the AI Motion Pillow to an average of 37 minutes after using the product. In the AI Motion Pillow user test conducted on all age groups, the average snoring improvement rate reached 44%.

Kyungdong Navien launched ‘Navien Deep Sleep Mat Heated Water’ using AI-based deep sleep technology last September. This is a product in collaboration with sleep technology company A-Sleep, and has an ‘AI sleep mode’ function that detects breathing sounds during sleep, analyzes sleep stages, and automatically adjusts the temperature of the mat. When you install the ‘Navien Smart’ app on your smartphone and connect it to the product, the smartphone detects and analyzes breathing sounds during sleep. When analyzed through polysomnography, which is performed with various sensors attached to the body during sleep, the rate of light sleep decreased by 7.9% with the use of AI sleep mode, and on the contrary, REM sleep time increased 30.8% and deep sleep time increased by 124%, respectively.

Ceragem, the No. 1 healthcare home appliance company, is developing the ‘Master Medical Bed’, a bed-like healthcare platform that can accommodate various medical devices in the bed.

Meanwhile, according to the National Health Insurance Corporation, the number of people who received treatment for sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders last year reached 1.24 million, and the total medical expenses were 322.7 billion won. This figure includes all symptoms of inability to sleep due to emotional reasons, nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, insomnia, sleep apnea, and hypersomnia. According to the Korea Sleep Association, the size of the domestic sleep industry this year is 3 trillion won, more than six times that of 10 years ago.