(Yes I’ve had sleep studies and know home sleep tracking is imperfect...)
Some random observations:
* My latest garmin has an "SpO2" sensor. Which is basically a random number generator with red LED. When I compare the results with an actual on-finger SpO2 monitor, there is zero correlation.
* Both the fitbit and the garmins have mistaken masturbation for deep sleep. You would think that the wrist movement would be a clue to not being asleep, but no. Deep sleep.
* The deep sleep vs REM classification seems to be based more on time-of-day than on anything else. Apparently I always start my nights with a block of deep sleep, followed by an alternating pattern of light & REM. This is true even when I'm awake during this "deep sleep" malarky.
* My CPAP, on the other hand, is very useful for telling apart sleep & waking. Breathing rate becomes much more steady when asleep. I can see when I woke up, even if it's just for a few seconds while I change position.
Perhaps someone more knowlegeable can pitch in?
More advanced ECGs can measure the impedance of the chest (which changes as you breath). This is more complicated to implement, but much more reliable.
In either case, it's not something you'd be able to measure without several stickers on your chest, with wires running to some central box. I think the CPAP would be less obtrusive. If you don't need a full fledged CPAP, you could use something like nasal capnography, that just measures exhaled CO2.
Though, it has recorded that I was in deep sleep while I was awake.
The developer stopped actively maintaining it, but the software still works great.
Looks like it's currently getting some TLC under the hood. Hopefully it'll continue to be maintained.
to track limb movements you need EMG attached to your legs and then to a recorder. Then a sleep tech certified in scoring must review the results.
A board certified sleep doctor can get you home devices to track periodic limb movement if necessary.
Acti-watches are the only devices that you might be able to get "accurate" sleep(not limbs)tracking. They're expensive and you need to buy analysis software to view results. I would not waste your money on any publicly available device- they wont get you the data you want.
How do you know that the certified sleep tech is reporting good results? How do you know that the results have good external validity (i.e. the results are not due to the unnatural sleep study environment with EMG attached and being forced to sleep at a certain time in an artificial bedroom?
I get it, at the margin this is probably true but for gross results?
If I drink, AutoSleep lights up like the fourth of July. If I don't, it reports every metric is better. If I drink, SnoreLab lights up. If I don't, it's fine.
Same if I exercise, it's all over the results very clearly.
I'm not claiming they can measure REM accurately but for major life factors they seem pretty damn good.
I feel like for a lot of self improvement frameworks it's about direction not accuracy. Like for example, body fat % machines vary greatly, but surely being closer to the 10-20% range is better than 30-40% range regardless of the method you use. Probably the same can be said for sleep.
Obviously won't help with tracking leg movements, though. Just for a quick confirmation I'd recommend a web camera, but there won't be statistics from it.
Dreem has a self-run study that claims pretty great results [0], do you have any objections to their methodology?
After reading Matthew Walker's "Why we Sleep", I currently use the deep sleep percentage metric provided by the Sleep as Android app to determine how well I sleep, and jot it down in a sleep log. The book has given me the idea that deep and uninterrupted sleep is hugely important, but obviously the app is only able to give a crude estimate.
Perhaps this headband would give me better insights into my (failings of) sleep. I hope the parent commenter replies to your message.
I've had this problem for many years where my legs don't relax when I sleep. So when I wake up my legs are always tired and sore. It's not serious enough to cause any major health issues but very annoying. I've visited many doctors and none were able to provide any useful information.
I was thinking of attaching EMG and getting some data for analysis. But I wouldn't even know where to start.
$75 off - http://ouraring.com/partners/rohannatraj - doesn't benefit me, just a coupon I received myself.
Here's a project my spouse is working on to see whether it's possible to warn you when you're getting sick using the combination of resting heart rate (from Fitbit), temperature (from Oura) and sleep data:
I usually use AutoSleep with the Apple watch.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6095823/
Study conclusions: "Multi-sensor sleep trackers, such as the ŌURA ringhave the potential for detecting outcomes beyond binary sleep/wake using sources of informationin additionto motion. While these first results could be viewed as promising, future development and validation is needed."
First time it happened, I let it slide and gave it another chance. Then it needed another chance, and another... and the I gave up. I ultimately lost all trust in what it was reporting.
It's still a beautiful piece of engineering, it just doesn't do what it claims to be doing :-/
Not saying it's the most accurate thing because it likely isn't, but it's still far better than other trackers IMO
I was about to close the tab but then I saw they have developer tools where you can get an API key to access your own data -- very cool
Am I the only one who likes sleeping on these things before committing to a purchase?
The way this really plays out is my wife says, "Do you want this stuff in the cart?" and then I go and remove most of it.
Social media is either making money via ads, or their making money via sales of $SOMETHING. This is marketing at work.
I don't know how accurate it is in terms of tracking restless legs unless the movement of your legs causes movement of your upper body that would impact watch acceleration sensors and gyroscope?
Quality sleep seems to have a cascading impact on the rest of life so this app has been hands down the most useful purchase I've ever made in the software category.
As well I can relate to changing habits because of measuring sleep. I used it as a controlling device for experiment with dropping alcohol & coffee, for instance, and results were clear as day.
I charge it in the evening, when I'm relaxing reading or watching TV. I can usually get it to 100% before I go to bed. If not, I'll put it on the first time I wake up to urinate that night.
By the time it gets to the next evening, it is usually at 55-65%.
If I forget to charge it in the evening (e.g, I fall asleep while reading or watching TV), it would probably make it fine to the next evening. In those cases, though, I'll stick it on the charger while I shower and have breakfast. That's more than enough to ensure no problem getting to the evening.
* It automatically calculates what time you need to go to bed if you're running a sleep deficit. (And it calculates how much of a sleep deficit or surplus you have.)
* Most useful of all, it gives me at least 1-2 days of early warning that I might be running a fever or flu - as I see my heart rate, which is usually quite consistent from night to night, leap 5 or 6 BPM over consecutive days.
This is especially important to know during the current outbreak. I can then do whatever I need to do early to shorten the length of whatever illness I might have (take vitamins/extra rest/fluids/etc.)
It also records a history, so you have a record of roughly when the fever starts and ends based on your heart rate, which you can then share with your doctor if necessary.
Basically the main things were:
- Avoiding alcohol at night entirely (and no more than 1 if it was a social event I felt like drinking at) - Running for at least 3 miles at about 70-80% max heart rate (or shorter distances with higher intensity) guarantees a night of at least 2.5 hours of deep sleep and up to 3.5 according to the app. Otherwise I average around 1 hour of deep sleep on a normal day. - I'm a type 1 diabetic so sleeping with my blood sugar at around 80 mg/dL means I get a full night of restful sleep. When I'm above 120 mg/dL I start losing quality sleep, and above 200 mg/dL I get no deep sleep and low amounts of quality sleep with a higher heart rate.
All these things before the app I had a gut feeling they were minor impacts on my sleep, but turns out they were incredibly impactful. Looking back at my time in college makes me wonder sometimes how much knowledge I didn't retain or learn due to poor sleep and health habits. Hindsight is 20/20 though.
I didn't exhaustively research but based on un-biased available science I found at the time, any investment (in devices/apps) was not worth time and money. Maybe that has changed.
See https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/17/technology/personaltech/s...
"For a person to be worrying about their sleep stages is like being worried about the gas makeup of the air you're breathing in," he said."
For study see https://nutritionalrevolution.org/2019/07/20/why-the-oura-ri...
""From EBE analysis, ŌURA ring had a 96% sensitivity to detect sleep, and agreement of 65%, 51%, and 61%, in detecting "light sleep" (N1), "deep sleep" (N2 + N3), and REM sleep, respectively. Specificity in detecting wake was 48%."
Specificity in detecting wake was 48%! If this was a medical test, it would never be approved by FDA."
The NYT article summed up reality for most nicely:
"Dr. Vallat told me that if I really wanted to get better sleep, I should simply try to sleep and wake up at the same time every day — that would help my brain learn how to build a structure for optimal sleep. He also advised making the bedroom a cool environment (about 68 degrees) and as dark as possible; avoiding alcohol in the evening; not checking email or social media right before bed; and asking myself each morning when I woke up, "Do I feel refreshed?""
Stop drinking and watching tv/screens and go to bed on time... don't need an expensive ring or watch to tell you this...
But the advice at the end of your post... I'm trying to put it politely - it's insulting rubbish for anyone with moderate to severe sleep issues.
Correct advice, in the absence of actual REM tracking devices, is to go to the doctor - sleep specialist and possibly also a psychiatrist.
If that’s not working then get a full on sleep study, otherwise save your time and money.
since then stopped focusing on this kind of variables
What did the doctor recommend?
Definitely need to take that advice on board!
I don't think it will directly track leg movement, but it tracks sounds, so if you're shuffling the sheets it could possibly pick that up. It's a very highly rated app and I've used it successfully myself.
This one is basically "set it and forget it". You put it under your mattress and calibrate it, then it tracks automatically.
I like it because I don't have to bring any gadgets into the bedroom, or remember to turn on tracking.
It seems pretty accurate from what I've seen so far, although I don't have anything to compare it to. I've found it very useful for testing various sleep interventions.
The band is not uncomfortable (after a couple of nights, it's very strange at first) and it will give you lots of insights other solutions can't.
You do have to put it on before bed and take it off and charge in the morning though. And it's expensive.
I did significant research into the sleep trackers before deciding and the bottom line I found out is that anything on your wrist/fingers etc. Just can't accurately tell which sleep phases you're actually in and the offsets are huge, check the user reviews and research, they were comparing all the trackers against a proper sleep lab.
So I decided for dreem2 and have been extremely happy, especially with the deep sleep stimulation functionality, since I didn't buy it because I'd have any sort of sleep issues.
Apart from detecting sleep stages, it has other features (e.g. smart alarm) which I have not used yet. I really wanted to use sleep simulation which they claim to enhance your deep sleep. But unfortunately this feature in not available in the headband sold in USA.
When correlating the data with SnoreLab, I consistently see the snoring occurring only while sleeping on my back, and almost never when sleeping on my side.
Useful to know if you are trying to resolve snoring problems.
For a brief time there was a consumer product "Zeo sleep monitor" which was a legitimate EEG-style brainwave headband you would wear to sleep. From what I recall, comparing it's results to those of in-lab sleep studies, it was fairly accurate.
Sadly they went out of business as it was a fairly niche product and pretty expensive.
I fear they may follow the same course as Zeo at those prices though. For typical consumers I would imagine only the most fervent "quantified self" types are going to be comfortable spending $500 for sleep tracking.
I'm interested though :)
However, their Android app is still on Google Play, and you can find used models on eBay. There's also a cottage industry making replacement headbands (which wear out).
At least there was 3-4 years ago when I last used mine. I haven't tried it since.
Not having to set anything up or say I'm going to sleep is perfect for us, and the results seem to generally be in line with reality. I don't believe it tracks restless legs. It's really comfortable with the sport loop band.
From the limited research I did a few months ago it seemed as if the additional accuracy derived from a dedicated device was outweighed by the faff of setting it up + the additional utility of a multifunctional Apple Watch / Fitbit-type device. It felt like a single-digit % gain in accuracy over Apple Watch, which had a huge % gain in utility.
I used https://www.sleepcycle.com/ for a number of years while suffering sleepless nights.
It seemed accurate...but I had no way of verifying the quality of my sleep. I have heard this is difficult to do.
Eventually I got sick of paying the subscription and agonizing over my sleep data.
I spent probably six months practicing sleep hygiene (consistent schedule, limiting screen time, working out, etc) and removing myself from stressful environments. I was eventually was able to return to a decent schedule.
I also found speaking with a psychologist to be helpful here.
Hope your sleep improves.
Sleep for Android has some problems, but it has a free-tier and is easy to start using.
For better sleep tracking, there are some mattress cover devices, which will help with the leg movement problem a bit better than SoA can. The most common one afaik is Eight:
The data is surprisingly accurate, and sleeping with a watch on doesn't bother me one bit. (I use a silicon watch band, the dressier watch bands would probably bother me.)
How do you know?
I had one of the original Jawbone Ups, and it was great for this. Sadly, it didn't last forever and now they're discontinued. I did a solid search about a year ago and couldn't find anything that suited - essentially a sleep tracker with a smart alarm that's not tied to a mobile phone, and ideally with the ability to wake via light as well as noise.
(I get that the Apple Watch offers options, but it never seemed sensible to use a) use quite a bulky watch to sleep with, and b) choose a watch that would ideally charge overnight, to capture sleep data.)
This one works great for me & is free.
B. Instead of tracking your RLS, I suggest you treat it. There are studies suggesting that iron deficiency and B vitamin deficiencies can be culprits. That helped with mine, though I have known other people who benefited from other supplements.
C. I highly recommend you start a journal. A written record of health stuff is a hugely valuable health management tool.
[0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sleepeasy
They used to use movement but now use ambient audio to determine sleepiness. It a suggestion worth looking at maybe not "powerful" enough but certainly easy to use.
I find the accelerometer based trackers to be completely useless. I haven't tried a combo pulse/accelerometer type that should be better but I am doubtful.
I use a Contec CMS50I pulse oximiter on occasion in addition to the sleep log. I can determine when I first get to sleep based on my pulse but otherwise it doesn't help other than that I can tell when I take it off. My estimates of when I get to sleep have always been close, although I'm guessing this might not be the case for most people.
For the sleep log, I record when I get in and out of bed (rounded to 15 minutes), when I guess I get to sleep and wake up (rounded to 30 minutes), time in bed, estimated sleep, any medications I took before bed, time I use light therapy in the morning, and any notes I want to remember about how I slept (or anything else since I don't otherwise keep a journal).
I'm not convinced sleep tracking is actually a good idea for most people (or necessarily anyone as a regular thing). The negative of a sleep log is that thinking about when you get to sleep and wake up enough to make a guess will wake you up a bit. The trackers mostly don't seem accurate enough to be all that useful. I'm not sure what most people would do with the information; it seems mostly helpful to compare different sleep medication or practices or to convince yourself that you are getting more or less sleep than you think. I suspect that just writing down in the morning how well you think you slept, how you are feeling, and maybe when you got in and out of bed might be at least as useful as anything more elaborate.
Essentially the sensor capacity for all of them are similar, with the Apple Watch slightly better than many of the competitors, the form factor for the oura is best. We make an algorithm that runs on many of the devices using Sonic Sleep and we found that our algorithm on Apple Watch performs the best. The oura is good too for sleep wake. Biostrap is good for SpO2. You can also buy a pulse ox that is less consumer friendly but accurate.
But DO NOT put too much value in the sleep staging. Current state of the are is bad at this.
Sincerely,
Daniel Gartenberg, PhD
With such devices, is there a hope of portable EEG based sleep monitors?
> Anonymous Data Collection
> AutoSleep does not collect any information.
That's pretty much the whole thing. Apparently they do everything on-device.
Each night I start the ESP32 recording the movement data from the 2 pads that are under the mattress. The ESP32 has ADCs to collect the analog measurements and sends the movement data to a debian based SQLite db wirelessly every minute.
When I wake up, I register my perceived sleep quality (from 0 to 5).
I've been gathering the data for several months and plan to run it through ML/scipy to see what insights I can glean.
The setup is very cheap - the mattress pads can be obtained for next to nothing at thrift stores.
So I'm building an app (still in dev) https://withbliss.net in order to track my day and activities so I can look for trends around what is affecting my sleep positively or negatively.
Please sign-up and I'll drop you a note when the beta is ready. Shouldn't be too long. Very keen to hear get this out quickly and get feedback.
It's nice because it goes under your mattress so you don't have to wear anything. The results seem to be accurate, at least when it comes to detecting tossing and turning vs sleeping.
The body battery is another thing that is quite magical in indicating my resources. Two days ago I found myself at 10/100 midday. At 4pm my concentration and deep thinking ability was almost inexistent.
From the engineering perspective I noticed that the SP02 sensors attached to the finger, to the smart watches and other devices tracking pulse, O2 and heart functions they use pretty much the same technology to read the pulse, blood oxygenation levels etc.
There is a lot of software and signal engineering that lays on top of the sensor readings that differs on each manufacturer. To get these settle to accurately predict REM and VO2 and other more advanced activity labelings they do need a lot of data and iterations. Fitbit and the Apple watches went through thousands of data points and they do seem to be miles away now.
So far I found that with each software update the Garmin Fenix is getting a lot better at these predictions. Certainly for all these devices there is a learning curve and we are quite frankly at the beginning of it.
I'm interested in using a device, but I'm skeptical of the accuracy for data like how long my REM cycle were: https://www.menshealth.com/health/a26932734/sleep-trackers-a...
For just knowing roughly how long I'm sleeping each night (and how consistent my bed and wake times are), my text log has been good enough.
I'm not even sure I should be keeping track at all. As the article points out, it may exacerbate sleeping problems by causing me to worry too much about sleep in the first place.
I would also recommend getting your vitamin D levels checked. The normal range is far below what you should be at from my experience. 60-80ng/ml is an ideal range ("normal" from my lab is anywhere from 30-100) from what I've read. Can start supplementing and seeing if it helps.
I think 30 is the lab normal (and it was recently raised to 30 from 20) - though a lot of people are below that when tested.
It might be. But it could also be more.
Doesn’t mean that isn’t true, but I’d need more to be persuaded.
Among other features it records noises, cuts out all the no-noise moments and you have a 3-5 minute record of all nightly noises in the morning. As others have said here all the expensive gadgets are mostly random number generators so I don't see the point in wearing one - this app had told me a lot about how I sleep, what disturbs me, etc.
I wake up a lot in my sleep, so generally I have been looking to reduce my average sleeping heart rate through exercise, diet, sleeping positions, etc - which has been quite successful. if you chose this route, remember to change one thing at a time and leave enough time to measure the difference.
Another thing that could work is simply having a motion-detection camera. The more time the camera spends active, the more you moved that night.
If you don't mind charging devices, Oura ring is my top choice as it's the most accurate wearable. Fitbit does a decent job if you're on a budget, but the data is less accurate.
My personal favorite is set and forget, under the mattress - Withings Sleep.
The hard part is making sense of the data and determining what to do to try and improve your sleep - getting a tracker won't simply improve your sleep.
To fix this issue I build SleepWell.ai, that takes sleep tracker data and makes custom recommendations based on what sleep science has shown will improve sleep.
So I am not really statisfied with it. The app runs on the phone the whole night and drains the battery, no smarthome features are built in and there is always bluetooth sending data.
Do you feel fine? You slept enough.
C'mon OP. What's a computer going to tell you that you 3-million year-old endocrine system doesn't already know?
A computer can give me clues as to why I still feel tired after sleeping for 10 hours every night. The right tracker can tell me what my oxygen levels were while sleeping, or how restless I was during the night. It can estimate how much time I spent in each sleep cycle, and identify anomalies in how much REM sleep I seem to be getting, for example.
Many, many people suffer from various sleep abnormalities and insight into their behavior while sleeping can be helpful for helping their conditions, or at least giving them insight into what's going on.
Sometimes information can be handy, even if all you're getting is an automated way of collecting information you already had access to.
"Quantified self" style tracking usually isn't going to unlock amazing improvements in perfectly healthy people, where heuristics like 'if you're tired, try sleeping more' work well. But you might be able to squeeze out some benefit- 5% here, 5% there- that you might not have captured without automated assistance.
And if your baseline is way worse than where you could be, then the potential benefits of tool-assisted tracking could be larger, and many 'common sense' strategies just don't help (enough).
One problem is that I now build tolerance to medication extremely quickly. As in, something will work great for a few nights and 5 days later I'm back to baseline and totally miserable.
Another problem, that my sleep tracker helped identify, is that at least part of my problem is paradoxical insomnia - where you go to sleep and dream about having a restless night not sleeping.
After some initial difficulties getting anyone to take me seriously, I'm now working with a psychiatrist and neurologist who actually understand what happened to me. By using sleep tracker data, we're able to measure actual medication response, which is much more useful for knowing when to make adjustments than perceived response.
It's also useful just knowing when perception differs from reality. I'm so tired all the time anyway that I can't tell a 3 hour night from a 5 hour night.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend the Dreem - it's a bit like a double slit experiment - the discomfort of wearing it is enough that it in itself worsens my sleep. I'd also not necessarily recommend other non-EEG headband trackers - the data is probably a lot less reliable. And the data that the Dreem exports is somewhat limited. I'm actually working on my own tool for working with it that I hope to release at some point.
Philips also has an EEG headband that looks like it might be a bit more comfortable, but it doesn't seem to be available outside the US.
As much as I hate cliches, what gets measured gets managed. And not-quite-accurate data from a wristband might be enough.
When I don't want to track snoring solely, I use Sleep Cycle, which tracks the agitation of your sleep, and uses that to wake you up. The tracking info is quite good as you can see the amount of rem sleep and where in the night that happened. It is also good to perceive trends through time in terms of sleep quality.
I would be interested to know in particular if all the gimmicky trackers these days even remotely approach Zeo in accuracy; I know for sure that, for me, the "put your phone in bed" ones don't.
You don't have to charge it, nor wear anything, which is why I got it vs. any of the wearables.
I have no insight as to whether the Oura ring is going to give you restless-leg data directly or indirectly, but it is extremely reliable for recording other sleep disturbances in my wife's experience.
FWIW, my sleep doctor says Oura rings are not accurate at all, but anecdotally I don't agree with him.
I do find the Oura is terrible at tracking activity like exercising, it's just wildly wrong. But for sleep it seems very accurate.
- The kind that measure brain activity, like as Dreem or Philips SmartSleep - these, in my experience are by far the most accurate and useful devices you can buy. Dreem even has a self-run study comparing the devices to a proper sleep study setup. They are however, quite expensive.
- The kind that lays under/on top of the bed and indirectly measures heart-rate, breathing rate and body movements. These are okay as far as accuracy goes. They can't directly tell you how your sleep is but they capture enough indirect information that they can make a decent guess, at least regarding how much sleeo you get. They're differentiated from the wrist-based trackers in that they can detect any kind of body movement and they can measure your breathing rate as well. They also don't require you to have a potentially uncomfortable device strapped to your wrist.
- The kind that you wear on your wrist like Apple Watch and fitness bands - these, in my experience, are garbage. Like the under/over-bed devices, they measure your sleep indirectly but unlike those devices, they capture less useful information and require wearing a potentially uncomfortable device when you're trying to sleep.
- Smartphone apps - these, in my experience, are absolute garbage. They're not sensitive enough to pick up any useful information about your sleep state. All they can really do is tell you if you're moving or not. Maybe they can pick up snoring.
If you're interested in accurately measuring your sleep state and catching things like short periods of wakefulness or the precise amount of time it takes you to get to sleep and wake up, I can't recommend Dreem enough. I've owned one for over a year now and it's been spot-on every time. Since it's attached to your head it takes a little bit of getting used to but I don't even feel it anymore.
Since you say you're interested specifically in tracking your leg movements, I think it's pretty clear that the on/under-bed trackers are appropriate for you. Personally, I use an Emfit QS for the insane amount of data and analysis it gives you but there are a number of other products like Withings. There are also mattresses that come with the technology built-in.
I would never rely on a smartphone app or fitness band. They're better than nothing so might be good if you happen to have one on-hand but I wouldn't go out of your way to buy one for the purpose of tracking sleep.
Given that a ton of people have recommended AutoSleep here, I will give that a try as well and see which one seems to be better.
I even used a Trail Cam to film my movements :)
Example: on Sunday, I woke up, drove 20 minutes to a trailhead, proceeded to strenuously hike for an hour, drove 20 minutes back. When I checked the sleep log later that day, the watch had automatically assumed I had been sleeping through the entire hike.
I like most other things about this watch, but sleep tracking is not one of them.
But the sleep tracking has been awful. A lot of days I'll get up, sit in a chair, and will surf the web for several minutes, say 45 minutes, and the watch inevitably records this time as also sleep. It's quite ridiculous and the software doesn't allow you to edit the log with the correct time. You can only delete entries, not edit them.
Whoop seems promising, but it’s too expensive for me.
Unlike accelerometer-based sleep trackers (fitbit, Apple Watch et. al), the Dreem 2 is EEG-based. I can't trick it into thinking I'm sleeping by just holding very still.
Now I effectively get a free sleep study done on me every night, which is AMAZING for N=1 randomized control studies on myself (ex: do I sleep better with earplugs? an eye mask? how many days after a bad night of sleep do I feel cognitive impairment? how much does blue light before bed affect my sleep onset latency?). Clean data I could trust was vital to figuring out how teach myself to sleep like a human again.
My most recent sleep report from Dreem says I've logged 181 nights wearing this headband. It's amazing. It enabled the single biggest improvement to my life in the last decade.
It's expensive, and it's so much cheaper than a sleep study that only measures a single unusual night.
I've been tooting Dreem's horn on twitter for a while, so they gave me a promo code that I think gets you 5-ish percent off: GENCO
I also recommend:
* a Manta sleep mask[2] and/or blackout curtains. Aim for pitch black if you open your eyes in bed at night. Cover any small lights in your bedroom with aluminum tape (it's light proof)
* silicone ear plugs[3]. They're actually comfortable, and you can sleep on your side without them jamming into your ear
* the Coup adjustable-loft pillow[4]. Your pillow is more important for bed comfort than your mattress (particularly your neck angle). While I'm on the topic: I'm not convinced mattresses matter nearly as much as people think. The best sleep I've gotten so far is on an ~$80 cot mattress from Amazon.
* if you sleep with a partner that sleeps hotter or colder than you, get a Chilipad[5]. Kicking your leg in and out to regulate temperature is keeping you from sleeping deeper.
Also, if you snore, that's called sleep apnea and you're suffocating while you're asleep. Get that fixed immediately. You can pick up used CPAP machines on craigslist for a few hundred dollars.
Also AMA about sleep here on on twitter @cgenco. This shit is really important to get right.
I've got an article in progress better summarizing all this stuff that will be live at https://gen.co/sleep in the next few weeks :)
1. https://imgur.com/a/3FsK39j 2. https://mantasleep.com/ 3. https://www.amazon.com/Macks-Pillow-Soft-Silicone-Earplugs/d... 4. https://amzn.to/3dvoWKP 5. https://www.chilitechnology.com/
Awesome, can you elaborate? I’m interested in how they combine AI with EEG for better sleep tracking. Also, have you experienced any discomfort from wearing a headband full of tech all night?
The only health tracker I’ve really used is the Withings Smart Scale. Even though it’s not super sophisticated and the non-weight measurements (like muscle mass) are unreliable, it helps me keep my weight in check.
I'm not super well versed in how this works technically. My understanding is that even with raw EEG, accelerometer, and heart rate data it's not a straightforward problem to figure out what stage of sleep you're in. From the consumer side, I've just noticed a few patches they push down to my headband with "improved sleep tracking" in the changelog.
> have you experienced any discomfort from wearing a headband full of tech all night?
Nope. I was already wearing ear plugs and an eye mask, so the headband is a barely noticeable addition, even when side-sleeping.
- Anne Lamott