Apparently, bedtime has become a technology category.

There are smart mattresses, sleep earbuds, sunrise lights, cooling systems, and enough sleep tracking to produce an annual report on what happened between midnight and 7 a.m.

Some of it sounds genuinely useful. Some of it sounds like my bed is applying for a software update.

I'm only interested in the first category.

A Sunrise Alarm Still Makes Sense to Me

Instead of going from completely dark to BEEP BEEP BEEP YOUR DAY HAS BEGUN, a sunrise alarm gradually brightens before your wake-up time.

I own a Hatch Restore 3, and this remains one of my favorite pieces of bedside tech.

I originally wanted it for the sunrise alarm, but the bedtime features sold me. The sound baths make me melt into a coma—in the best possible way—and I like having a wind-down routine that doesn't require me to keep reaching for my phone.

Anything helping me put the phone down at night gets bonus points.

Sleep Earbuds Are Interesting

Regular earbuds aren't exactly designed for sleeping. They're bulky, they can become uncomfortable against a pillow, and there's always the delightful possibility of waking up searching the sheets for one.

Sleep-specific earbuds are designed to be smaller and more comfortable while lying down.

I can see the appeal if you're dealing with a noisy environment or sharing a room with someone whose snoring could qualify as heavy machinery.

Comfort would be my deciding factor. If I can feel them digging into my ears, we're done here.

Temperature Might Be the Luxury Upgrade

Some of the most interesting sleep products now focus on temperature. There are mattress covers and other systems designed to warm or cool your bed or pillow.

This category can get expensive quickly, so I wouldn't consider it an impulse purchase.

But if you regularly wake up feeling like you've been sleeping inside a toaster oven, I understand why temperature-control tech has an audience.

I Don't Want Too Much Data

Here's where I draw the line. I don't necessarily need to wake up every morning and receive a grade for sleeping.

If tracking helps you notice useful patterns, great. But I know myself.

Give me a sleep score of 62 and suddenly I'm lying there thinking, Was I bad at unconsciousness?

I'd rather use bedroom tech to make sleep feel easier than turn bedtime into another performance metric.

The Best Sleep Tech Should Disappear

That's ultimately what I want from any technology in my bedroom. Help me wind down. Make waking up less aggressive. Then quietly get out of the way.

I don't want five glowing screens beside the bed or another device demanding attention right before I'm supposed to sleep.

The best bedtime technology shouldn't make the bedroom feel more technological. It should make it easier to forget the technology is there.

Now turn on the sound bath. I'm busy melting into a coma.