Our recent clinical study indicates that the Pod may improve sleep quality and daytime functioning. To understand the Pod’s long-term effects on behavior and other subjective metrics, we surveyed 470 Pod 4 users at the following timepoints: before Pod use, and then after sleeping on the Pod for 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 6 months.
Key Takeaways
- After 2 weeks of sleeping on the Pod participants reported:
- 14% decrease in sleep disruptions
- After 1 month of sleeping on the Pod participants reported:
- 25% increase in sleep quality
- 11% increase in daytime functioning increased
- 32% decrease in daytime sleepiness
- 11% decrease in waking up too early
- 9% decrease in difficulty staying asleep
Sleep Quality and Sleep Hygiene
After beginning to sleep on the Pod, participants reported significant sleep improvements:
- Within 1 week, participants felt more comfortable falling asleep, with a 71% decrease in feeling too hot at bedtime and a 10% drop in waking up too early.
- After 2 weeks, participants reported a 14% reduction in sleep disruption and a 19% drop in insomnia-related concerns.
- After 1 month, subjective sleep quality improved by 25%, sleep duration increased by 7%, and daytime functioning improved by 11%.
- After 6 months, sleep hygiene improved by 27%, daytime functioning by 16%, and concern about the ability to sleep decreased by 17%.
Additionally, participants with the lowest sleep quality (higher scores in the plot) before getting the Pod had significantly better improvements in sleep quality after sleeping on the Pod for 1 month (lower scores). See Figure 1 and Appendix for more details.
Figure 1: A between-within ANOVA was used to evaluate reported sleep quality scores before sleeping on the Pod vs. 1 month after sleeping on the Pod. Participants were grouped into “Good Sleep Quality” (sleep quality score ≤5, n=25, blue line) and “Poor Sleep Quality” groups (sleep quality score >5, n=40, orange line). The error bars at each time point represent the standard deviation. There was a significant main effect of time (P < 0.05). There was a significant change between baseline and 1 month for poor sleepers (#, paired t-test, P < 0.05) and a significant difference between good and poor sleepers at each time point (*, independent t-test, P < 0.05).
Daytime Impacts
The Pod can help you stay awake … during the day of course! A more restful night results in a more productive day, and our data shows that the Pod can help with both.
- Daytime functioning improved by 11% after 1 month and by 16% after 6 months of sleeping on the Pod.
- 32% of participants felt less sleepy during the day after 1 month of Pod use.
- Participants with mild-to-severe daytime sleepiness saw the greatest benefit, with 65% reporting reduced sleepiness after 1 month.
Insomnia
Two common types of insomnia—maintenance insomnia and terminal insomnia—can significantly disrupt sleep quality and daily life. Maintenance insomnia refers to difficulty staying asleep throughout the night, while terminal insomnia describes waking up too early and being unable to fall back asleep.
Addressing these conditions without medication can be challenging because they’re often tied to maladaptive thought patterns and lifestyle factors like inconsistent sleep schedules and excessive screen time before bed.
However, the Pod can improve maintenance and terminal insomnia concerns and symptoms non-medically:
- After 2 weeks of sleeping on the Pod, concern about chronic insomnia and its health consequences decreased by 19%, on average.
- After 1 month of sleeping on the Pod, reported sleep duration increased 7%. Additionally, reports of waking up too early decreased by 11% and difficulty staying asleep at night decreased 9%.
These improvements may also be reinforced by positive sleep feedback through the Eight Sleep app, helping participants feel more reassured about their rest and more energized to take on the day (source).
Sleep Disruption
Trouble falling asleep can be caused by many things, like too much light or noise, an uncomfortable bed, etc. Once you fall asleep, maintaining sleep can sometimes be even more difficult. Participants reported more peaceful sleep after 2 weeks of sleeping on the Pod. Also, sleep disruption while falling asleep decreased by 7% and sleep disruption for staying asleep decreased by 14% after 2 weeks.
Overall, sleeping on the Pod for 1 month can be an effective tool for improving sleep hygiene and behaviors. The benefits are comparable to participating in a four-week sleep intervention program that includes wearing blue light-blocking glasses two hours before bed and maintaining a sleep diary (source).
| Survey Name | Survey Abbreviation | Measurements |
|---|---|---|
| Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index | PSQI | Sleep quality, sleep habits |
| Insomnia Severity Index (abbreviated) | ISI | Insomnia symptoms and sleep behaviors |
| Snore Outcomes Survey | SOS | Measures nighttime snoring and impacts on life quality |
| Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep | DBAS | Thoughts and feelings about sleeping and its impacts on daytime function |
| Epworth Sleepiness Scale | ESS | Daytime sleepiness |
| Sleep Hygiene Index | SHI | Sleep behavior and routines |
Table 1: Surveys used in the study, survey abbreviations, metrics that the survey measures, and any validated scoring resources used to evaluate survey responses.
Appendix
Participants & Procedures
All participants were recruited to this study when they purchased either an Eight Sleep Pod 4 or Pod 4 Ultra. 470 participants enrolled in testing, however, sample sizes at each timepoint vary due to subject dropout or filtering criteria used to account for lifestyle changes that would influence study outcomes. Participants completed the surveys in Table 1 at the following time points: before sleeping on the Pod, and then 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 6 months after beginning to sleep on the Pod.
Table 1: Surveys used in the study, survey abbreviations, metrics that the survey measures, and any validated scoring resources used to evaluate survey responses.
Statistical Analyses
Each validated survey was scored according to the respective valid scoring guidelines (see “Scoring” column in the above table). Scores before and after beginning to sleep on the Pod were calculated for each participant on each survey. Mean differences and percent changes from baseline to the post-Pod timepoint were calculated, and t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to evaluate statistically significant differences, where an alpha level of 0.05 defined significance. All data reported above are statistically significant (P<0.05).
