Ease into the land of nod with the wearable 2breathe Sleep Inducer

You can't put a price on a good night's sleep -- unless you need wearable tech to help you drift off, that is.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent

Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.

See full bio

Katie Collins

Jan. 3, 2017 8:14 p.m. PT

2 min read

Peaceful slumber could be only a wearable away.
Josh Miller

Insomnia is a cruel but common affliction. Now one company has, quite by chance, found a possible solution to it.

An idea occurred when, having developed the world's only FDA-approved hypertension treatment wearable, its Israeli creators discovered that it was making users drowsy. And so the 2breathe Sleep Inducer was born.

The device itself is fairly simple. A tracking module sits on an elastic strap worn around the user's mid-section. As their stomach rises and falls it feeds back the rhythm of their breath to a companion app in real time. The app then formulates a unique melody to synchronise with their breathing, and gradually encourages the user to prolong exhalation in time with the music. As the breaths slows, the wearer should drift into a peaceful slumber.

At least that's the idea. A demo we received standing up in a noisy hall at CES did not, you might be surprised to hear, conclude with anyone reaching REM state. But thanks to detailed session reports that provide feedback on the process of nodding off, it's easy to see whether the 2breathe Sleep Inducer is working for you.

If you're struggling to get to sleep at night and looking for a solution, the good news is that the product is already available through the 2breathe website for $180 (converts to AU$250, ‎£150). For peace of mind, it also comes with a 60-day money back guarantee.

The next step for the company is to introduce a pillow topper with built-in speakers later this year, designed for those who want to listen to lullabies without disturbing their partners.