Smart Home Tip 2: How to ensure a good night's sleep

How home automation brings security, fluidity and a touch of luxury to everyday life.

This blog entry is written by Cozify CTO Remo Kallio.

Everyone knows that a good night's sleep is very important. One of my favorite smart home automations is its benefits during the dark hours of the night combined with a gentle awakening the next day.

I live in a detached house with my wife and two children. When we go to bed in the evening, we also switch the whole house into sleep mode via the smart home phone app or conveniently with the push button next to the bed. In practice, this means that home automation regulates silence, safety and energy efficiency to its peak. In this case, the ventilation unit will quieten down and the TVs and other extra appliances will turn off automatically. In terms of energy efficiency and comfort, the temperature in our bedroom drops slightly lower. My wife and I sleep best when it's cooler in the bedroom at night. At the same time, we feel good about being able to adjust our energy use. 

Once the house is in sleep mode, it also guarantees us peace of mind while we sleep. One of our children has a habit of sleepwalking: if he happened to open the front door or even a window in the middle of the night, I'd be alerted. We are alerted to the lights being turned on in our bedroom, but the noise of a mobile phone or, for example, the stereo going on could also act as an alarm. 

The feeling of safety at night is also increased by the fact that I would be alerted if there was person or car moving around the house. If an unidentified car or person were to visit our yard in the middle of the night, the cameras would take a picture of them outside. However, home automation is not triggered by animals jumping about in the yard, which means no false alarms, otherwise there would be quite some disco lights going on in our bedroom at times - we live outside the urban area, so there are plenty of hares and other animals in the yard. 

What my wife likes about home automation at night is that when she goes to the bathroom, the automated lights go dimly on and then off. She doesn't have to fumble for a light switch in the dark because the lights automatically turn on just enough to make it safe to walk down the stairs. The night lights are adjusted so that they do not wake up a sleepy wife too much as bright lights would, so it is easy for her to get back to sleep even after a nighttime visit to the toilet.

In the morning at 6 a.m., the heating in our bedroom automatically returns to daytime temperature and preheats the room, making it a more comfortable place to wake up in. At 06:45, the lights slowly turn on to morning mode, the electronic curtains allow the morning sun in, and so the day begins after a good night’s sleep. You can also wake up to a cup of hot filter coffee if you have remembered to prepare a machine in the evening... Now if only I could find a robot for that.

If you're interested in finding out more about how to benefit from home automation for everyday chores and the nighttime hours, send an email to support@cozify.fi

Remo Kallio
Cozify, CTO