Tested on yourself
Almost all sleep gadgets are useless
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
Insomnia has long been one of the most common diseases in the world. In the USA alone, about 82 million people suffer from it. It is not surprising that in recent years there have been many technology startups promising to improve the quality of sleep. MIT Technology Review journalist Charlotte Gee figured out which of the new technologies really help.
In her youth, after entering college and moving to a big city, she fell ill with insomnia and was able to stabilize her condition only with the help of sleeping pills. Nevertheless, she still has periodic problems with sleep.
Charlotte started her experiment with sleep trackers. Some of their models are mats equipped with pressure sensors. If you put such a device under the mattress, it will analyze the duration and depth of sleep, pulse rate and even snoring.
Unfortunately, the popular tracker mat from Withings turned out to be ineffective, because it could not distinguish Charlotte from her husband, who slept on the same bed.
Then it was the turn of individual trackers. The small Oura ring with motion and temperature sensors was very convenient. However, experts are skeptical about devices that track sleep phases without focusing on brain activity. They consider Dreem or Sleep Shepherd head hoops based on an electroencephalogram to be the gold standard.
Unfortunately, the benefits of head hoops are not obvious. According to Charlotte, it is inconvenient to sleep in them, and the information received cannot be interpreted without a specialist.
A common drawback of all sleep trackers is that they incline the user to an unhealthy obsession with their indicators. Experts have even come up with a special term for this condition – orthosomnia.
An alternative approach instead of collecting statistics offers sleep management. For example, the Lumie alarm clock starts to glow brighter half an hour before the bell. This is supposed to make waking up easier. Charlotte confirmed that the device makes waking up less painful. But it is useless against insomnia.
Charlotte then tested the Somnox robot, a bean–shaped pulsating device. It is assumed that by snuggling up to the robot and synchronizing breathing with its movements, you can enter a meditative state of mind and fall asleep faster. Nevertheless, the journalist found it tough and uncomfortable. She also failed to synchronize with the device.
Tests of numerous gadgets for sleep have led to unexpected and unpleasant consequences. Charlotte found that during the experiment, the quality of her sleep deteriorated.
The girl decided to solve the problem with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy, the effectiveness of which has been proven by a number of studies. However, instead of visiting a therapist, she turned to modern technology again.
From several alternatives, Charlotte chose the Sleepio application, created by specialists from Oxford and designed to work on a smartphone or computer. Just six sessions with a virtual therapist was enough to stop worrying about sleep and get rid of insomnia. According to experts, cognitive behavioral therapy primarily eliminates anxious thoughts - and in many cases this is enough to restore healthy sleep.
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