How smart is your smart home? Connected technologies like smart lights, smart TVs, smart thermostats, and smart cameras have been around for a decade, but the average user isn’t getting the full experience without a bit of automation.

Some studies say that less than half of smart home users are using routine-based automation to simplify their day.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was slow to these kinds of features, having gotten on board with Google Home in 2016 and only just trying out some significant automations last year.

I’ve seen the light now, though, and I’m here to share my absolute favorite automations with Google Home that make it easier to get a good night’s rest. After all, if a smart home can’t improve your life in the bedroom, what’s the point?

Lights on before bed

A simple change and no more fights

Despite having smart lights in every room, our apartment is also equipped with an array of extremely bright track lights that are operated with a switch.

Every night on the way to bed, my wife would turn on these hospital-operating-room-level lights to make sure she didn’t bump her leg on the edge of the bed.

It annoyed me because the bright lights would immediately take me out of sleepy mode, and she always expected me to get out of bed and turn them off.

Eventually, I had had enough and decided I would give this whole automation thing a try. I set a daily automation for the bedroom lights to turn on at sunset.

On top of that, I made sure that the brightness also dimmed at this time, so if they were extra bright during the day, they wouldn’t jar me out of my tired stupor every night.

The result was a harmonious home that hasn’t been forced to endure overhead track lighting for the last 365 days.

Thermostat down at night

The cooler head on the pillow prevails

I don’t know about you, but I have trouble falling asleep at night, particularly if I don’t have my favorite white noise machine with me.

What I recently discovered, though, is that your body sleeps a lot better when it’s cold. WebMD notes that the ideal temperature for sleep is around 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and that anything in the 70+ degrees range “promotes insomnia.”

However, temperatures that low will virtually guarantee that you’ll never have company ever again. 65 degrees is simply too cold for everyday existence, especially when you’re getting out of the shower.

That’s why I’ve set up an automation that reduces the temperature on my Google Nest Thermostat, getting the temperature down to 65 degrees at midnight.

My sleep has definitely improved, although I do have a three-year-old who is prone to waking up at 5 am, so it’s hard to know for sure.

Bedtime reminders

Shut it down!

This Google Home automation is simple, but it can make all the difference. If you’re like me, finally heading to bed can be a chore in and of itself.

Whether I’m binging a new show or grinding through a new game, it’s easy to get carried away as the night goes on.

As a father, husband, full-time employee, and freelance writer for an Android-focused online publication, getting to bed on time can make a big difference in how I approach my day.

That’s where a simple reminder can come in handy. I’ve set up my Google Nest Hub Max, placed centrally in my living room, to provide a gentle reminder that it’s time to go to bed at 10 pm.

The automation turns off all the lights, turns off the TV, and starts playing the sounds of the ocean on the Google Nest Audio smart speaker in my bedroom.

It checks all the boxes for getting ready for sleep, so all I have to do is plop myself down in bed and drift off to dreamland.

Google Home was built to automate

At launch, there was a lot of novelty around Google Home answering silly questions and turning on smart lights.

Almost a decade later, though, the value of the Google Home system clearly lies in these kinds of automations.

The ecosystem is much larger than my meager apartment, too, with cameras, doorbells, and other security features that can make it even easier to manage your home with technology.

However, if you’re trying to improve something as simple as your sleep schedule, there are Google automations that can dim the lights, cool your room, and remind you when your bedtime is, so you don’t end up yawning and rubbing your eyes through your morning meeting.