Wireless headband tracks sleep patterns

Consumers can already monitor their sleep patterns using wearable devices like Fitbit and DirectLife or web-based services like TheCarrot.com. Whereas such tools include sleep among a raft of other trackable health data, however, Zeo focuses squarely on sleep with an eye toward helping users improve the quality of their rest. Five years in development, the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach system comprises a lightweight wireless headband, a bedside display, a set of analytical online tools and an email-based personalized coaching program. Each night users wear the soft, fabric headband, which accurately and safely measures sleep patterns through the electrical signals naturally produced by the brain. That data is transmitted wirelessly to a bedside receiver, which displays the user’s “ZQ”—or personal sleep score—when they wake up. A graph shows their light, deep and REM sleep, while comparisons with past data—the unit can store two weeks’ worth—can reveal trends and patterns. Perhaps most compelling of all for those who have trouble waking up is Zeo’s SmartWake alarm, which uses the customer’s sleep patterns to identify a natural awakening point within half an hour of any specified time. The result, Zeo says, is an easier time getting up. For an analysis of long-term sleep trends, all data recorded by the Zeo system can be transferred from the bedside unit onto an SD memory card and uploaded to the myZeo Personal Coaching website, where users can tap online tools to discover correlations between their lifestyle and sleeping patterns. The final element of the Zeo package is the 7 Step Sleep Fitness Program, a personalized sleep coaching program that asks users to set goals for their sleep and then provides customized strategies to help achieve them. The Zeo system is currently priced at USD 249 plus USD 7.95 per month for guided coaching, or USD 349 with unlimited coaching for life. Currently, Massachusetts-based Zeo ships only within the United States and Puerto Rico; one to partner with in your neck of the sleep-deprived woods…?