What if getting out of bed bright-eyed and bushy-tailed were just a question of temperature? That's what the new version of BedJet, a Kickstarter alumni project, wants to prove. This unique bed climate controller can both cool and heat under the sheets without the cumbersome wiring used by conventional mattress heaters—its only trick of the trade is a concentrated blast of air that makes a small pocket of air under your sheets, the temperature of which you can adjust to your liking.
BedJet v2, which is fundraising on KickStarter like its predecessor and has already raised $433,607—several times its goal—of $24,000, features updates to the firmware that take into account recent sleep research.
Our normal body temperature is 98.7º F, but in order to trigger sleep, it needs to dip to between 98.4 and 97.2 degrees. This is why it's so much easier to sleep in a slightly cold room. But our instinct to seek this type of environment clashes with the comfort we get from sleeping under snuggly blankets, which can raise the ambient temperature around our bodies to 98 degrees or more.
The new remote-control app for the device adjusts the temperature throughout the night to avoid these conditions and help you sleep better—and then raises the temperature in the morning to help you get out of bed more alert.
"Alternatively, everyone has different preferences or needs so you can manually program your own BedJet morning 'alarm,' which can include being woken up with a massive blast of the cooling air!" wrote founder Mark Aramli.
"BedJet v1 was a muscular brawny climate control machine for your bed with very little brains. Grab the remote, turn it on, turn the power up and down and set a shutoff timer," he continued. "We just didn’t have the engineering funds or the time to squeeze all that development [the sleep science features] in the first release of the product."
Though BedJet doesn't claim to be a substitute for an air conditioner or heater, it also can help reduce your utility costs by focusing its powers on the area immediately around your body.
Using two units, sleeping partners can also create comfortable individual zones for themselves. If you struggle with night sweats, BedJet even has a special mode that can help quickly wick the moisture off of your body.
By custom pairing with both your body and your bed, BedJet could mean an era of smarter, personalized sleeping environments.