An eye-tracking sleep mask for at-home sleep monitoring 
CategoriesSustainable News

An eye-tracking sleep mask for at-home sleep monitoring 

Spotted: In the United States, 70 per cent of adults report having at least one insufficient sleep per month, with 11 per cent having this problem nightly. With much of our sleep being a mystery to researchers, people often find themselves unsure how to doze off problem-free. Hoping to undercover these mysteries is Washington-based Somalytics with its SomaSleep sleep mask. The revolutionary mask uses eye-tracking movement in an in-home environment to detect what hurdles block someone from better sleep.  

Eye movements happen at every sleep stage, but they can be interrupted by stress, injury, disease, medications, and alcohol, resulting in tiredness. SomaSleep can track and classify all eye movements in both closed and open eyes, during sleep or whilst awake. The new technology, therefore, enables users to understand their sleep patterns and explain fatigue in ground-breaking ways.   

As Barbara Barclay, the CEO of Somalytics, explains: “sleep problems affect the lives of billions of people, and understanding the quality of sleep is at the heart of the solution. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is critical for learning and memory (…) until now, the only option to track REM was through sleep centres, where data is typically manually interpreted. With SomaSleep, we are enabling consumers to track all stages of sleep, including REM, in the comfort of and privacy of their own home through a lightweight, easy to use sleep mask.” 

By December 2023, SomaSleep is expected to be available for consumer purchase for $199 (around €183).  

Springwise has previously spotted other innovations aimed at bettering our sleep, including an app that helps you fall asleep, and a technology that makes beds automatically adjust to provide users with an optimal night’s sleep. 

Written By: Georgia King

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Medication-free sleep treatment – Springwise
CategoriesSustainable News

Medication-free sleep treatment – Springwise

Spotted: Today, getting enough sleep is considered on a par with eating right and getting enough exercise. The reason for this is that insufficient sleep has been associated with a host of negative outcomes – from poor performance in school and at work, to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a third of US adults report that they usually get less than the recommended amount of sleep – a pattern that is repeated around the world. Enter Moonoa, a new app and programme designed to get everyone sleeping again.

Moonoa bills itself as a “digital, personalised solution to improve your sleep naturally, without the use of medication”. Its approach is based on cognitive behavioural therapy CBT), which aims to work on behaviours, thoughts, and emotions that contribute to poor sleep. The platform’s comprehensive programme includes relaxation content to help reduce stress and anxiety and a ‘learning path’ with CBT-based advice and recommendations to help users “reframe behaviour, unrealistic expectations, and negative thoughts that are harmful to sleep”.

In addition to advice, Moonoa also offers sleep analysis and support from psychologist coaches, as well as a personalised food supplement sent to customers on a monthly basis based on their profile. The company takes a holistic approach to sleep improvement in an effort to help users establish predictable sleep patterns and take back control over their sleep. The programme has been certified as a medical device by both the Spanish Medicines Agency and the European Union.

According to the company, clinical studies indicate that a CBT-led approach to improving sleep leads to improvement in 90 per cent of patients.

Many approaches to sleep improvement have so far focused on the low-hanging fruit of tracking using wearables. Innovations in this space include a wearable ring that wakes wearers up at regular intervals as part of a sleep training regimen, and a smart pillow that monitors sleep by tracking head movements. Moonoa goes further by taking a holistic approach to tackling the underlying causes of bad sleep.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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A self-powered smart pillow for sleep monitoring
CategoriesSustainable News

A self-powered smart pillow for sleep monitoring

Spotted:  A good night’s sleep is essential for maintaining health and wellbeing. But for many, it can be hard to get much-needed shut-eye. In fact, sleep disorders affect up to 70 million Americans every year. 

While there are a variety of sleep-tracking devices on the market, most of them either lack accuracy or are too intrusive to be used on a regular basis. However, scientists in China have developed a smart pillow that strikes a balance between these two extremes.

The pillow is equipped with a series of sensors that track head movements to accurately monitor the quality of sleep. Crucially, the pillow is designed to be comfortable and unobtrusive, making it an ideal solution for those who want to track their sleep without disturbing their rest.

The pillow, which is outfitted with a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) and sets of flexible, porous polymer triboelectric layers, is self-powered, generating electricity from the sleeper’s head movements.

While the pillow is primarily designed to track sleep quality, the scientists imagine that it could find other uses, such as monitoring patients with neck conditions or acting as an early warning system for people with sleep apnea.

Other sleep innovations spotted by Springwise include an app that uses neurofeedback for better sleep, sleepwear that protects from insect bites, and a smart mattress that encourages a better night’s sleep.

Written By: Katrina Lane

Email: zhong.wang@mse.gatech.edu

Website: pubs.acs.org

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