Google's Nest Hub Adds Feature That Lets You Fall Asleep Faster

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 09 November 2021, 11:11 pm

Google's second generation Nest Hub is the company's smart display. It is not equipped with a camera, but it does have a radar sensor that can monitor and analyze your sleep when you place the device at your bedside. Users had stated that it is accurate and it is a great option if you wish to track your sleep.

Today, Google announced that it would be adding updates to the Nest Hub as it aims to improve its sleep-sensing capabilities.

Sleep Staging

Among the new features is one called Sleep Staging which Google describes as an analysis of your stages of sleep, according to CNET.

The stages are light, REM, deep, and awake. It is presented in a hypnogram chart form. Hypnograms are a popular way for sleep scientists to visualize your sleep data.

The Sleep Duration and the Sleep Quality screens will also let you know how long you were in each stage of sleep, and what percentage of your night's rest fell under each stage.

Also Read: Google Nest Hub and Mini's New Guest Mode: Here's How to Activate it

Updated Sound Detection

Google's Nest Hubs will now have a new cough and snore timeline, charting those sounds that come only from your calibrated sleeping area, according to The Verge.

That means that coughs and snores of partners will now be categorized in the "other sounds" timeline. And that timeline will also document loud noises around you that may have disturbed your sleep, like alarms or barking dogs.

Integration with the Calm App

Popular sleep and meditation app Calm will be available through Google Assistant on the Nest Hub starting in December. You will be able to ask Google to show you your meditations from Calm or to start a new meditation.

Calm Premium members will have access to Calm's full library, while non-Premium users will have a smaller selection of tracks.

Sleep Sensing

Google noted that you can enjoy Sleep Sensing on Nest Hubs through 2022. In 2023, the company plans to integrate Sleep Sensing into Fitbit Premium, currently $10 per month or $80 per year for a health and wellness subscription, according to TechHive.

The new sleep features should appear on Nest Hubs in the United States today, and they go live globally over the next few weeks.. It is a massive feature that headlines the new Nest Hub. It uses Google's miniature radar technology called Soli to detect submillimeter movements of the person sleeping closest to the display.

During setup, a visual guide shows you where to place and aim the display and asks you to get into your normal sleep position for a few seconds of calibration.

After that, you're good to go. A small icon appears on the top right corner of the display when it senses someone in bed, and a larger banner notification pops up when the display starts tracking sleep.

The Google Nest Hub also has a Respiratory Wellness feature that records how often the display heard coughing or snoring during the night, as well as your respiratory rate during sleep. Those are the things that most smartwatches can't do.

While Google partnered with the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to build a catalog of tips and recommendations, the Nest Hub doesn't claim to diagnose or pinpoint any specific health conditions, and it isn't certified in any way as a health or medical device.