Autopilot 2.0 to Autopilot 3.0
In a previous Eight Sleep study, we evaluated the sleep and cardiovascular benefits of using the Pod with AP 2.0, which provided three static temperatures overnight. In our latest study, we collected wearable data from 59 new Pod 4 users to compare sleep and cardiovascular metrics before and after using the Pod 4 with Sleep Stage AP (AP 3.0). AP 3.0 adjusts temperatures in real-time based on your current sleep stage and how well you slept last night.
We found this new version of AP leads to almost 2x the cardiovascular benefits (vs. AP 2.0) and has especially large sleep improvements for women and those with poor quality sleep, when compared to sleeping without the Pod.
Key Takeaways
After sleeping on the Pod with Autopilot (AP) 3.0 for 2 weeks:
- Brand new Pod users with average sleep:
- Experienced almost twice the cardiovascular benefit (heart rate: -2 bpm and heart rate variability: improved 13%), compared to AP 2.0
- Increased the number of deep sleep minutes each night by an average of ~10% (+5 minutes)
- Brand new Pod users with below-average sleep:
- Gained an average of ~16% (+7 minutes) more deep sleep per night
- Experienced a 9% reduction (-5.5 minutes) in wake time each night.
- Women with below-average sleep who are brand new Pod users:
- Gained 11 additional minutes (+19%) of deep sleep per night
- Experienced a 15% reduction (-9.4 minutes) in time spent awake during the night
What is AP 3.0?
AP is Eight Sleep’s personalized sleep assistant. AP 3.0 specifically
- makes temperature adjustments to help you get more time in each sleep phase, by reviewing your previous night’s sleep to learn what sleep stage you need most.
- adjusts in real-time, based on the sleep stage you are currently in to support more time in that sleep stage.
- considers your biological sex and age when making temperature adjustments, along with your room temperature, temperature preferences, and more.
As previously reported, AP 3.0 increases total sleep time, REM sleep, and deep sleep, while decreasing wake after sleep onset in current users who went from AP 2.0 to 3.0.
AP 3.0 for New Pod Users
AP 3.0 improves heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), deep sleep, and time awake at night for brand new Pod users. We found that participants who struggle with poor sleep quality, especially women, benefitted most from using the Pod.
Cardiovascular & Sleep Benefits for New Pod Users
Enhanced cardiovascular recovery: After sleeping on the Pod for 2 weeks, participants experienced an average 3% decrease in sleeping HR (-2 bpm), with some participants experiencing up to a 6% decrease (-4 bpm). Participants experienced an average 13% increase in sleeping HRV (+4.4 ms), with some participants experiencing up to a 27% increase (+9 ms). These cardiovascular benefits are almost 2x greater than those observed with the previous AP 2.0 version when both versions are compared to not sleeping on the Pod (Figure 1 & Figure 2).
Figure 1. Sleeping on the Pod for 2 weeks with AP 3.0 (dark blue bar) vs. AP 2.0 (light blue bar) leads to a 2x decrease in average sleeping HR (-1 bpm vs -2 bpm) compared to not sleeping on the Pod. Lower sleeping HR indicates better cardiovascular recovery and fitness. Results represent statistically significant changes from no Pod (P<0.05).
Figure 2. Sleeping on the Pod for 2 weeks with AP 3.0 (dark blue bar) vs. AP 2.0 (light blue bar) leads to almost a 2x improvement in sleeping HRV (+7% vs +13%), compared to not sleeping on a Pod. Higher sleeping HRV indicates improved cardiovascular recovery and fitness. Results represent statistically significant changes from no Pod (P<0.05).
Increased deep sleep duration: After sleeping on the Pod for 2 weeks, participants experienced a ~10% (+5 minutes) average increase in the number of deep sleep minutes per night — about 2.5 extra hours of deep sleep per month (Figure 3). Some participants saw increases in deep sleep minutes up to 27% (+14 minutes) each night. Also, 53% of participants boosted their nightly deep sleep percentage by 5% or more.
Figure 3. Monthly average expected change based on the 2 week change values for deep sleep duration and wake after sleep onset, grouped by all sleepers vs. below-average sleepers and women. The dark blue bars include data from all participants, the light blue bars include participants with initially below-average deep sleep or above-average wake, and the orange bars include only women with initially below-average sleep. Changes in deep sleep and wake after sleep onset were statistically significant after 2 weeks of sleeping on the Pod for below-average sleepers, including women vs. no Pod (P<0.05). The error bars represent the standard deviation, and the values on each bar represent the mean monthly change for that group.
Additional Benefits for New Pod Users with Initially Below-Average Sleep Quality
- Deep Sleep enhancement in those with below-average deep sleep: Participants initially experiencing below-average deep sleep (<15% of the night is deep sleep) showed above-average improvements, gaining ~16% more deep sleep per night (+7 minutes). This adds up to ~3.5 additional hours of deep sleep each month (Figure 3).
- Reduced time spent awake at night for those with initially high amounts of wake: Participants who spent 30+ minutes awake each night before sleeping on the Pod experienced a 9% reduction in wake time (-5.5 minutes) each night. This reduces wake time by almost 3 hours each month (Figure 3).
Women with Below-Average Sleep
- Women with below-average deep sleep: Women with initially below-average deep sleep experienced improvement, gaining 11 additional minutes of deep sleep per night (+19%). For these women, this improvement translates to approximately 5.5 extra hours of deep sleep per month (Figure 3).
- Women with initially high amounts of wake: After sleeping on the Pod for 2 weeks, women with high initial wake after sleep onset saw a 15% reduction in time spent awake during the night (-9.4 minutes). This could mean 4.5 less hours per month spent awake during the night (Figure 3).
Appendix
Participants & Procedures
Wearable data was collected from 59 new Pod 4 users (17 female, 42 male; 45 ± 11 years) to compare sleep data from the 2 weeks before vs. 2 weeks after beginning to sleep on Pod 4 with Sleep Stage Autopilot (Autopilot 3.0).
Statistical Analyses
Sleep and cardiovascular metrics were grouped into “before” vs. “after” Pod use and paired t-tests were used to evaluate differences between metrics, where an alpha of 0.05 defined significance. Participants were only included in the study if they had at least one week of wearable data before and after beginning to sleep on the Pod. All findings reported above are statistically significant (P < 0.05). When sample sizes were small for the sub-group analyses (e.g. below-average sleepers with n=8-10 participants), we checked effect size to ensure the results were not only statistically significant but also practically meaningful and reflective of a substantial real-world impact.
