(Sorry I probably waffle on quite a bit but just trying to get all my thoughts and ideas down in one go)
NETV
INTRO: The potato couch has now become the potato swivel-chair. If you thought the world already watched too much television then think again……
STATEMENT:
Internet is the Future of Television
WHAT:
Internet is becoming the future of television
HOW:
The world of internet already offers you games, blogs, banking, research, dictionaries, forums, communities, sell and buy, the list goes on so why not add television, it allows users to possibly achieve more than one task all from the same seat and computer; user friendly and easy. Television is purely jumping on the multimedia bandwagon.
WHY:
Internet is the future of television because it fulfills more of the user’s needs and wants. They can watch it when they please, often where they please, there is often no ads, they can be fast forward, rewind, paused, stopped at any time, they can be watched repeatedly, stored for future watching. Not only all of this but the internet has a broader range of new visuals for users to explore and watch, they can add their own creations to the world of viewing. The TV seems one dimensional in comparison.
WHO/WHERE/WHEN:
The internet is the world wide web, it can be used by anyone with access to a computer, major companies like Google and abs were first to begin the online TV “craze” in 2007. Television through the net can be watched from any location with a computer at any time and more so there are sites where you can access channels from all around the world.
INTIMACY THROUGH DESIGN
Television is one of the main sources of entertainment for an individual (will justify). For that reason alone it is an intimate product. Not the physical properties but mental, spiritual and emotional. Characters play on that emotion and we often can’t help but feel connections to these “people” becoming a form of drug or addiction that we continue to want and need to watch. That is how producers design television, so that we will keep watching. Now they have added our intimacy with our televisions to our intimacy with the internet, combing two major sources of entertainment and designing it so than it meets our every need and fulfillment allowing us to watch our favourite characters and programmes anytime and any place.
DESIGN THEORIES:
Interaction; two participants the user and the internet/web. The net aims in helping the user achieve their aim/task, to find and then provide television, movies, and forms of visual medium for entertainment at a time and place that suits the user.
Ludology; it also touches on ludology, where the user can repeat the above action and store/save it and continue to do so at the users wish. When using the net for television they are not just purely switching channels but are “playing” they are searching the web for best quality, speed and the right programme viewing, exploring and stepping into a temporary new but not unfamiliar place in the users daily life. Net also allows the ability to share and communicate online through these visual mediums.
Tania Hockings
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
First draft
I edited and put all our work together.
Working Paper
Tania, Jeremy, Peter
SleepRite
Don’t just Sleep Tight, SleepRite
Sleep is an intimate part of life; it is a daily ritual and a very personal experience, from our preparation to our dreams to our waking, our sleep prepares us for the day ahead, unfortunately some people do not realise the importance or the impact their sleep has on our daily lives. In today’s fast paced world, sleep seems a luxury, not a need but when you get the best out of your sleep, you get the best out of your day and your quality of life improves drastically. If we deprive ourselves of sleep, we disrupt our very delicate sleep cycles and our body clocks begin to tick to the wrong beat. Through implementing a system of sleep cycle prediction, our product aims to enhance this daily productivity, whether short or long it will provide you with the highest quality of sleep possible within that given time; helping those who struggle with their sleep wake up feeling rejuvenated and ready for their waking day.
Keywords: Sleep, sleep cycle, rejuvenation, quality, productivity
Sleep is nature’s way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate. Without sleep our bodies are forced to work into overtime without allowing our energy levels to be replenished on a daily basis. In today’s fast pace world a lack of sleep is not uncommon. This is why we would like to create a product (SleepRite) that will aid in “productive” sleep. We cannot control a person’s lifestyle but we can help improve their physical and mental energy by providing them with the best possible sleep.
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. “Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.” We want to target these people that do not have or find the time for a decent night’s sleep, who wake up the following morning and feel unsatisfied.
The majority of people in this group are the busy; the career savvy and/or the family orientated. Every person has an individual sleep cycle, pattern and preparation, but what this set of people do have in common is their inability to enjoy a good nights sleep, considered a mild to extreme form of insomnia. These people make up almost 35% of the world’s population and simply accept bad sleep as a part of their life. It is neither a luxury nor a necessity , for them it is the fact of life.
This “fact of life” has been recognized as a problem and attempted to be fixed in the past and present. Basic methods such as music, hotties, exercise, diet etc work well for different individuals, but products have now been designed specifacally for productive sleep. The Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock works throught light. As your alarm, light increasingly emits from your lamp in replica of the sun, allowing a more natural awakening . Two other products work similarily to our own proposed design, SleepRite. The SleepSmart Headband and SleepTracker Wristwatch both work by tracking sleep cycles, they are monitored through the head band and watch and wake you at the best possible time when you are in the light stage of your sleep cycle. The difference between these products and SleepRite are the usability, there are no additions to wear to bed, it is simply like setting your alarm as usual, except now you will wake up feeling rejuvenated.
When we sleep we go through a cycle of different stages, alternating between almost awake moments (light sleep) and deep sleep. A Full Sleep Cycle is thought to be roughly around 90 minutes long, we go through 5 of these cycles a night dependant on the time frame, the most important stages of sleep are deep sleep and REM sleep. REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep is where we do most of our dreaming and is also the best stage of sleep with which to wake up. By working out what stage of sleep we are in and for how long, we can predict when we will be in the REM stage of sleep and when best to wake the user.
With the SleepRite product the user is able to work out how much sleep he or she needs and able to plan their sleep so that they wake up at the most effective time, refreshed and rearing to go. The sleep prediction software can work in two ways, which ever suits the users lifestyle more fittingly. The user can either input in their desired wake up time and SleepRite will tell them the best time/s to go to bed and then wake them at that set time the following morning; or, the user can set a window, they input the earliest time they would like to wake up and the latest, then tell SleepRite when they have gone to bed, it will then wake them at a point during this window. Through either method the application use sleep cycle analysis to work out at which time would be best for the user to go to sleep or to wake up. It is as simple as that.
To make SleepRite successful and usable to our target audience it needs to be quick, easy to use, compatible, compact, and preferably inexpensive and most importantly does what it says it will do. Because our users will be (to an extent) busy, no nonsense, straight to the point type of people we need our product to appeal to these users and reflect their needs in their type of lifestyle. SleepRite fulfills all these requirements by simply adding to gadgets that people already know intimately.
Gadgets are the present novelty, handy little items of technology that provide a service to us. Often they conveniently sit in our pocket or handbag waiting for our attention, but more often or not, a newer and more advanced model will replace a gadget before you know it. Furthermore, products are becoming obsolete, technology is being incorporated as one, a multimedia machine, why carry two gadgets when you can get them both in just the one? So how do we avoid this happening to SleepRite? Easy, we jump on the bandwagon with them. Our product SleepRite will not be a physical model but a piece of software, a form of “plug-in” application that can be added and integrated to your very own ipod or cellphone, the two most personal gadgets society knows and loves.
The software will work through your calendar and/or alarm clock, allowing you to plan your sleep for weeks or months ahead or on a daily basis. Using the simple calendar and alarm clock interface that user is already well familiar with the user can set at which time he or she wishes to get up on particular days. Again, using the sleep cycle system your “gadget” will enable the software’s alarm feature to wake the user at the perfect time of the sleep cycle, letting the user feel fresh and ready to get up, beginning a productive day through the best sleep possible.
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of out lives, without it we start to falter in our daily activities, by using SleepRite the user will feel both refreshed and rejuvenated upon waking up can make the most of the day to come. Whether short or long SleepRite will allow you to make the most out of ever night’s sleep. Don’t just sleep tight, SleepRite.
Working Paper
Tania, Jeremy, Peter
SleepRite
Don’t just Sleep Tight, SleepRite
Sleep is an intimate part of life; it is a daily ritual and a very personal experience, from our preparation to our dreams to our waking, our sleep prepares us for the day ahead, unfortunately some people do not realise the importance or the impact their sleep has on our daily lives. In today’s fast paced world, sleep seems a luxury, not a need but when you get the best out of your sleep, you get the best out of your day and your quality of life improves drastically. If we deprive ourselves of sleep, we disrupt our very delicate sleep cycles and our body clocks begin to tick to the wrong beat. Through implementing a system of sleep cycle prediction, our product aims to enhance this daily productivity, whether short or long it will provide you with the highest quality of sleep possible within that given time; helping those who struggle with their sleep wake up feeling rejuvenated and ready for their waking day.
Keywords: Sleep, sleep cycle, rejuvenation, quality, productivity
Sleep is nature’s way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate. Without sleep our bodies are forced to work into overtime without allowing our energy levels to be replenished on a daily basis. In today’s fast pace world a lack of sleep is not uncommon. This is why we would like to create a product (SleepRite) that will aid in “productive” sleep. We cannot control a person’s lifestyle but we can help improve their physical and mental energy by providing them with the best possible sleep.
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. “Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.” We want to target these people that do not have or find the time for a decent night’s sleep, who wake up the following morning and feel unsatisfied.
The majority of people in this group are the busy; the career savvy and/or the family orientated. Every person has an individual sleep cycle, pattern and preparation, but what this set of people do have in common is their inability to enjoy a good nights sleep, considered a mild to extreme form of insomnia. These people make up almost 35% of the world’s population and simply accept bad sleep as a part of their life. It is neither a luxury nor a necessity , for them it is the fact of life.
This “fact of life” has been recognized as a problem and attempted to be fixed in the past and present. Basic methods such as music, hotties, exercise, diet etc work well for different individuals, but products have now been designed specifacally for productive sleep. The Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock works throught light. As your alarm, light increasingly emits from your lamp in replica of the sun, allowing a more natural awakening . Two other products work similarily to our own proposed design, SleepRite. The SleepSmart Headband and SleepTracker Wristwatch both work by tracking sleep cycles, they are monitored through the head band and watch and wake you at the best possible time when you are in the light stage of your sleep cycle. The difference between these products and SleepRite are the usability, there are no additions to wear to bed, it is simply like setting your alarm as usual, except now you will wake up feeling rejuvenated.
When we sleep we go through a cycle of different stages, alternating between almost awake moments (light sleep) and deep sleep. A Full Sleep Cycle is thought to be roughly around 90 minutes long, we go through 5 of these cycles a night dependant on the time frame, the most important stages of sleep are deep sleep and REM sleep. REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep is where we do most of our dreaming and is also the best stage of sleep with which to wake up. By working out what stage of sleep we are in and for how long, we can predict when we will be in the REM stage of sleep and when best to wake the user.
With the SleepRite product the user is able to work out how much sleep he or she needs and able to plan their sleep so that they wake up at the most effective time, refreshed and rearing to go. The sleep prediction software can work in two ways, which ever suits the users lifestyle more fittingly. The user can either input in their desired wake up time and SleepRite will tell them the best time/s to go to bed and then wake them at that set time the following morning; or, the user can set a window, they input the earliest time they would like to wake up and the latest, then tell SleepRite when they have gone to bed, it will then wake them at a point during this window. Through either method the application use sleep cycle analysis to work out at which time would be best for the user to go to sleep or to wake up. It is as simple as that.
To make SleepRite successful and usable to our target audience it needs to be quick, easy to use, compatible, compact, and preferably inexpensive and most importantly does what it says it will do. Because our users will be (to an extent) busy, no nonsense, straight to the point type of people we need our product to appeal to these users and reflect their needs in their type of lifestyle. SleepRite fulfills all these requirements by simply adding to gadgets that people already know intimately.
Gadgets are the present novelty, handy little items of technology that provide a service to us. Often they conveniently sit in our pocket or handbag waiting for our attention, but more often or not, a newer and more advanced model will replace a gadget before you know it. Furthermore, products are becoming obsolete, technology is being incorporated as one, a multimedia machine, why carry two gadgets when you can get them both in just the one? So how do we avoid this happening to SleepRite? Easy, we jump on the bandwagon with them. Our product SleepRite will not be a physical model but a piece of software, a form of “plug-in” application that can be added and integrated to your very own ipod or cellphone, the two most personal gadgets society knows and loves.
The software will work through your calendar and/or alarm clock, allowing you to plan your sleep for weeks or months ahead or on a daily basis. Using the simple calendar and alarm clock interface that user is already well familiar with the user can set at which time he or she wishes to get up on particular days. Again, using the sleep cycle system your “gadget” will enable the software’s alarm feature to wake the user at the perfect time of the sleep cycle, letting the user feel fresh and ready to get up, beginning a productive day through the best sleep possible.
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of out lives, without it we start to falter in our daily activities, by using SleepRite the user will feel both refreshed and rejuvenated upon waking up can make the most of the day to come. Whether short or long SleepRite will allow you to make the most out of ever night’s sleep. Don’t just sleep tight, SleepRite.
My Writing parts
We want to target these people that do not have or find the time for a decent night’s sleep, who wake up the following morning and feel unsatisfied. The majority sitting in this group is the busy, the career savy and/or the family orientated, to make a product successful and usable to this target audience it needs to be quick, easy, compatible, compact, preferably inexpensive and most importantly does what it says it will do. Our product aims to fulfill these requirements.
Gadgets are the present novelty, handy little items of technology that provide a service to us. Often they can conveniently sit in our pocket or handbag waiting for our attention, but more often or not they will be replaced by a newer and more advanced version before you know it and furthermore your product has become obselte, they have incorporated it with something else, why carry two gadgets when you can get them both in just the one? So how do we avoid this happening to our product? Easy, we jump on the banwagon with them. We propose designing a product as rather than just a physical model but more a piece of software, a form of “plugin” that can be added to you ipod or cellphone, the two gadgets society does not live with out. This plugin could work in two different ways, through your calendar and/or alarm clock, you can let it plan your sleep for weeks or months ahead or on a daily basis.
Sleep is natures way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate. Without sleep our bodies are forced to work into overtime without allowing our energy levels to be replenished on a daily basis. In todays fast pace world a lack of sleep is not uncommon and goes as far as different levels of insomnia in a majority of cases. This is why we would like to create a product that will aid in “productive” sleep. We cannot control a persons lifestyle but we can help improve their physical and mental energy by providing them with the best possible sleep.
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. “Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.” http://www.sleepdex.org/economics.htm
Gadgets are the present novelty, handy little items of technology that provide a service to us. Often they can conveniently sit in our pocket or handbag waiting for our attention, but more often or not they will be replaced by a newer and more advanced version before you know it and furthermore your product has become obselte, they have incorporated it with something else, why carry two gadgets when you can get them both in just the one? So how do we avoid this happening to our product? Easy, we jump on the banwagon with them. We propose designing a product as rather than just a physical model but more a piece of software, a form of “plugin” that can be added to you ipod or cellphone, the two gadgets society does not live with out. This plugin could work in two different ways, through your calendar and/or alarm clock, you can let it plan your sleep for weeks or months ahead or on a daily basis.
Sleep is natures way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate. Without sleep our bodies are forced to work into overtime without allowing our energy levels to be replenished on a daily basis. In todays fast pace world a lack of sleep is not uncommon and goes as far as different levels of insomnia in a majority of cases. This is why we would like to create a product that will aid in “productive” sleep. We cannot control a persons lifestyle but we can help improve their physical and mental energy by providing them with the best possible sleep.
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. “Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.” http://www.sleepdex.org/economics.htm
Highlighted Research
"quality of wakening".
more natural way to get you out of bed.
nature intended us to be woken by gently increasing sunlight
production of cortisol, the energy hormone
light, aromatherapy and sound effects
I get more stuff done
we didn’t feel as grumpy and cloth-headed as usual. We had a few complaints. For one, several buttons are located on the top of the device – this makes them hard to find without actually getting up and looking down at the clock
This is based on the principle that energy hormone, cortisol should be activated to wake up without any fuss. We are not aware of the fact that it is not that we are purposefully lazy to wake up after hearing the bell go, but the brain the energy hormone is not triggered
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. They have busy lives with work and families so they try to squeeze every minute out of every day. They finally surrender to sleep when they are absolutely exhausted. The problem they are not recognizing is that when you are sleep deprived, you are forcing your body to work at a disadvantage. An exhausted body cannot work to it’s full potential, mentally or physically.
that the lack of sleep affects your physical, mental, and emotional life
deprived of sleep for a period of two weeks, it reduced their mental abilities. This included alertness, reaction time, and memory.
Sleep is natures way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate
Sleep can seriously affect our appetite. Our brain interprets lack of sleep as hunger. While we sleep our bodies secrete a hormone called leptin. Leptin is what tells our brain that we are full when we eat
Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.
"Dawn comes soon enough for the working class" - Exene Cervanka and John Doe
This set of people prefers very busy schedule and social engagements, and only surrender to sleep when extremely tired. In contrast, others would give anything for a good night sleep.
Researchers have established that sleep is a complex process regulated by the brain and it obeys a 24-hour biological clock. They also assert that some adults appear to need only three hours of sleep a day; others need up to ten hours.
Today, millions of people have difficulty sleeping well. Sleep specialists posit that an estimated 35 percent of the world’s population suffer from insomnia – the inability to enjoy normal and sufficient sleep. They assert described sleeping badly as “one of the most serious epidemics of the turn of the century.” Many insomniacs suffer in ignorance. They simply accept sleeping badly as part of life and resign themselves to spending their waking hours feeling irritated and drowsy. To these, sleep is neither a luxury nor a necessity.
Sleeping late for just a couple of days can reset your body clock to a different cycle -- you'll be getting sleepy later and waking up later.
So when you get up, go outside and get some sunlight. Or if that's difficult, turn on all the lights in your room
When you sleep less, you should be more active during the day. Being less active is one of the worst things an insomniac can do.
Be regular.
same time every night can make sleep as regular as hunger.
, go to bed later when you are having trouble sleeping
Do something that's relaxing
Find your own sleep-promoting routine.
Warm bath, yes; shower, no
snooze much better after listening to 45 minutes of quiet music before bed
is relaxing, and it soothes them to sleep.
The cold weather when its raining is what drives people to sleep..primarily because its so good to sleep when its cold.
listening to soft music at bedtime may help older people to sleep better and for longer.
Overall those in the music group slept for longer and had better sleep
free of daily worries that can make a difference to sleep. Good bedtime habits can help people to sleep well all year round.
"switch off" when it is time to go to sleep
only going to bed when you are tired and ready to go to sleep. Reading and watching TV in bed could actually make it harder to sleep. If people cannot sleep, it is better for them to get out of bed and do something else rather than focusing on trying to sleep.
Getting up at the same time every morning can help too.
Waking up abruptly by the sound of an alarm clock is an inherently unnatural thing to do.
The problem lies in what you're doing when you're suddenly woken up from your slumber.
When you wake up during "light" sleep, you wake up rested and feeling good
Nature did not intend for us to wake up during "deep" sleep.
This guy claims to sleep in 90 minute intervals to attempt to wake up during "light" sleep.
SleepSmart, makes you wear a headband or something around your head while you sleep. SleepTracker
1. Set an alarm to go off before the latest time you want to wake up.
o Make the alarm really quiet radio or music.
2. Set a second alarm to go off at the latest time you want to wake up.
o This is your regular alarm that will wake you up no matter what.
Create a night time routine that prepares you for the following day.
Light to moderate exercise, such as walking or jogging for
If you haven't showered the night before a hot shower followed by about 1 minute
Give your body a chance to wake up before you take in any food.
person to both assess the quality of a night's sleep and wake up more refreshed
Within a pre-set thirty minute window, SleepSmart activates a friendly alarm during the last moments of lighter sleep.
. One constant problem is that I need to sleep and I feel that the time is wasted. Even worse is when I wake to my alarm to discover that I am groggy and waste even more time in an unproductive funk.
Have you ever felt that you have had a full night’s sleep, but you still feel tired when your alarm rings?
The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
By monitoring your sleep cycles for optimal waking moments during the preset ALARM WINDOW, SLEEPTRACKER® finds those almost awake-moments and gently wakes you when you're most alert
This set of people prefers very busy schedule and social engagements, and only surrender to sleep when extremely tired. In contrast, others would give anything for a good night sleep.
Researchers have established that sleep is a complex process regulated by the brain and it obeys a 24-hour biological clock. They also assert that some adults appear to need only three hours of sleep a day; others need up to ten hours.
Today, millions of people have difficulty sleeping well. Sleep specialists posit that an estimated 35 percent of the world’s population suffer from insomnia – the inability to enjoy normal and sufficient sleep. They assert described sleeping badly as “one of the most serious epidemics of the turn of the century.” Many insomniacs suffer in ignorance. They simply accept sleeping badly as part of life and resign themselves to spending their waking hours feeling irritated and drowsy. To these, sleep is neither a luxury nor a necessity.
For one, several buttons are located on the top of the device – this makes them hard to find without actually getting up and looking down at the clock
The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
more natural way to get you out of bed.
nature intended us to be woken by gently increasing sunlight
production of cortisol, the energy hormone
light, aromatherapy and sound effects
I get more stuff done
we didn’t feel as grumpy and cloth-headed as usual. We had a few complaints. For one, several buttons are located on the top of the device – this makes them hard to find without actually getting up and looking down at the clock
This is based on the principle that energy hormone, cortisol should be activated to wake up without any fuss. We are not aware of the fact that it is not that we are purposefully lazy to wake up after hearing the bell go, but the brain the energy hormone is not triggered
Many people feel that sleep is a waste of time. They have busy lives with work and families so they try to squeeze every minute out of every day. They finally surrender to sleep when they are absolutely exhausted. The problem they are not recognizing is that when you are sleep deprived, you are forcing your body to work at a disadvantage. An exhausted body cannot work to it’s full potential, mentally or physically.
that the lack of sleep affects your physical, mental, and emotional life
deprived of sleep for a period of two weeks, it reduced their mental abilities. This included alertness, reaction time, and memory.
Sleep is natures way of allowing our bodies to rejuvenate
Sleep can seriously affect our appetite. Our brain interprets lack of sleep as hunger. While we sleep our bodies secrete a hormone called leptin. Leptin is what tells our brain that we are full when we eat
Either consciously or unconsciously, people make decisions about how to allocate their time, including time in bed and time working. A familiar chart on the walls of university students says “Sleep, work, play: pick two”.
"Dawn comes soon enough for the working class" - Exene Cervanka and John Doe
This set of people prefers very busy schedule and social engagements, and only surrender to sleep when extremely tired. In contrast, others would give anything for a good night sleep.
Researchers have established that sleep is a complex process regulated by the brain and it obeys a 24-hour biological clock. They also assert that some adults appear to need only three hours of sleep a day; others need up to ten hours.
Today, millions of people have difficulty sleeping well. Sleep specialists posit that an estimated 35 percent of the world’s population suffer from insomnia – the inability to enjoy normal and sufficient sleep. They assert described sleeping badly as “one of the most serious epidemics of the turn of the century.” Many insomniacs suffer in ignorance. They simply accept sleeping badly as part of life and resign themselves to spending their waking hours feeling irritated and drowsy. To these, sleep is neither a luxury nor a necessity.
Sleeping late for just a couple of days can reset your body clock to a different cycle -- you'll be getting sleepy later and waking up later.
So when you get up, go outside and get some sunlight. Or if that's difficult, turn on all the lights in your room
When you sleep less, you should be more active during the day. Being less active is one of the worst things an insomniac can do.
Be regular.
same time every night can make sleep as regular as hunger.
, go to bed later when you are having trouble sleeping
Do something that's relaxing
Find your own sleep-promoting routine.
Warm bath, yes; shower, no
snooze much better after listening to 45 minutes of quiet music before bed
is relaxing, and it soothes them to sleep.
The cold weather when its raining is what drives people to sleep..primarily because its so good to sleep when its cold.
listening to soft music at bedtime may help older people to sleep better and for longer.
Overall those in the music group slept for longer and had better sleep
free of daily worries that can make a difference to sleep. Good bedtime habits can help people to sleep well all year round.
"switch off" when it is time to go to sleep
only going to bed when you are tired and ready to go to sleep. Reading and watching TV in bed could actually make it harder to sleep. If people cannot sleep, it is better for them to get out of bed and do something else rather than focusing on trying to sleep.
Getting up at the same time every morning can help too.
Waking up abruptly by the sound of an alarm clock is an inherently unnatural thing to do.
The problem lies in what you're doing when you're suddenly woken up from your slumber.
When you wake up during "light" sleep, you wake up rested and feeling good
Nature did not intend for us to wake up during "deep" sleep.
This guy claims to sleep in 90 minute intervals to attempt to wake up during "light" sleep.
SleepSmart, makes you wear a headband or something around your head while you sleep. SleepTracker
1. Set an alarm to go off before the latest time you want to wake up.
o Make the alarm really quiet radio or music.
2. Set a second alarm to go off at the latest time you want to wake up.
o This is your regular alarm that will wake you up no matter what.
Create a night time routine that prepares you for the following day.
Light to moderate exercise, such as walking or jogging for
If you haven't showered the night before a hot shower followed by about 1 minute
Give your body a chance to wake up before you take in any food.
person to both assess the quality of a night's sleep and wake up more refreshed
Within a pre-set thirty minute window, SleepSmart activates a friendly alarm during the last moments of lighter sleep.
. One constant problem is that I need to sleep and I feel that the time is wasted. Even worse is when I wake to my alarm to discover that I am groggy and waste even more time in an unproductive funk.
Have you ever felt that you have had a full night’s sleep, but you still feel tired when your alarm rings?
The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
By monitoring your sleep cycles for optimal waking moments during the preset ALARM WINDOW, SLEEPTRACKER® finds those almost awake-moments and gently wakes you when you're most alert
This set of people prefers very busy schedule and social engagements, and only surrender to sleep when extremely tired. In contrast, others would give anything for a good night sleep.
Researchers have established that sleep is a complex process regulated by the brain and it obeys a 24-hour biological clock. They also assert that some adults appear to need only three hours of sleep a day; others need up to ten hours.
Today, millions of people have difficulty sleeping well. Sleep specialists posit that an estimated 35 percent of the world’s population suffer from insomnia – the inability to enjoy normal and sufficient sleep. They assert described sleeping badly as “one of the most serious epidemics of the turn of the century.” Many insomniacs suffer in ignorance. They simply accept sleeping badly as part of life and resign themselves to spending their waking hours feeling irritated and drowsy. To these, sleep is neither a luxury nor a necessity.
For one, several buttons are located on the top of the device – this makes them hard to find without actually getting up and looking down at the clock
The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
Friday, August 22, 2008
SleepSmart/Tracker
sleep optimized.
Originally inspired by debilitating morning fatigue that followed late night study sessions, Axon Labs has created a true innovation within the sleep industry. Project SleepSmart™ allows a person to both assess the quality of a night's sleep and wake up more refreshed.
Project SleepSmart is a two-part product. A comfortable, wireless headband collects sleep data through proprietary soft sensors that rest on the forehead. The headband wirelessly sends the sleep data to the base station for real-time processing in a sophisticated algorithm. Within a pre-set thirty minute window, SleepSmart activates a friendly alarm during the last moments of lighter sleep.
Forty years of research has shown that waking from deeper sleep results in a longer duration of sleep inertia and morning grogginess. SleepSmart decreases the severity of sleep inertia by waking the sleeper from a lighter phase of sleep. However, SleepSmart is far more powerful as it also helps people learn how to sleep better by providing information on the duration, depth and continuity of each night's sleep. We look forward to unveiling this exciting new product in 2008.
http://www.axonlabs.com/technology/sleepsmart.html
Product Review: Sleeptracker and SleepSmart
As a graduate student I am naturally obsessed with my productivity and on a constant mission to find devices and methods to improve my efficiency and quality of life. One constant problem is that I need to sleep and I feel that the time is wasted. Even worse is when I wake to my alarm to discover that I am groggy and waste even more time in an unproductive funk. Sleep researchers have long known that the brain goes through various sleep cycles during the night and that it is best to awake when brain waves are in a certain pattern. This knowledge has been used to help chronic insomniacs get at least a minimal amount of helpful sleep, but it is clearly also useful for students who want to spend as little time sleeping as possible without losing mental acuity while awake. I experimented with timing my sleep cycles as an undergraduate, but in order to reliably work one needs to be observed and awoken at the appropriate time. Now there is technology to the rescue! A company SleepTracker has developed a wristwatch that detects movement correlated with "light sleep" and activates an alarm to make sure that you wake up during that period, and as close to your desired wake time as possible. Even better is an upcoming product by SleepSmart. Theirs is a headband that actually detects the appropriate brainwaves and wakes you up at the optimal point in your sleep cycle that occurs prior to your desired wake time. You'll always wake up in time and fully invigorated by your sleep (no snooze button pushing anymore). The SleepTracker costs $150 and is available from their website. The SleepSmart system is clearly better, but it isn't available yet. According to their website they project the cost to be in the $300 to $400 range and you can reserve one now (I did). Is it worth it? Just determine your minimal hourly wage and see how many hours it will have to rescue from the abyss of unproductiveness. For example, if you could use that time to earn $20 an hour, then it only has to save you 20 hours…if it saves you five hours a week then it's worth (5*52*$20=) $5200 for just one year's use. If you're a graduate student then you NEED this!http://aaronbramson.blogspot.com/2006/03/product-review-sleeptracker-and.html
SleepSmart Headband Alarm Clock Wakens You From Light Sleep Stage
A company called Axon Sleep Research Laboratories has developed a headband alarm clock that awakens you when you are not in a deep stage of sleep.
Have you ever felt that you have had a full night’s sleep, but you still feel tired when your alarm rings? When we sleep, we repeatedly move through several cycles of brain activity. It is incorrectly believed that an extra 15 minutes of sleep would make us feel better. What actually makes us feel alert and energetic, however, is being awoken out of the right sleep cycle.
The scientific community has known about this phenomenon for decades, but the technology has not existed to take advantage of it — until now. Enter SleepSmart: an intelligent alarm clock that monitors your sleep cycles as you sleep, waking you at the ideal moment from the optimal stage of sleep. This optimal moment might be several minutes prior to your set alarm time. However, when you wake up, you will be refreshed and ready for action — just as if you had awoken naturally.
The device is worn on your head and it analyses your EEG brain wave to decide when to awaken you. The device does not appear to be on sale yet.
They claim that being awakened from a lighter stage of sleep will cause a person to feel less tired.
SleepSmart’s technology is based on the existence of sleep cycles. For the sake of simplicity, we will classify the cycles into 3 categories: light, deep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Recent scientific research has learned that the way one feels after waking up is determined not by the length of sleep, but rather the sleep cycle from which that person awakens. When awoken from deep sleep, the sleeper feels groggy, tired, and grumpy. However, if someone wakes up from a lighter stage of sleep, no matter how many hours they slept, they still wake up recharged, invigorated, energetic and alert.
SleepSmart capitalizes on this finding by waking people only from light sleep. In order to do this, users wear a soft headband that passively monitors the brain. The end result is the aversion of sleep inertia and the production of a more energetic, attentive and happy morning.
The headband is the idea of a group of Brown University students.
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002725.html
How does SLEEPTRACKER® work?
SLEEPTRACKER® continuously monitors signals from your body that indicate whether you are asleep or awake. Because you wear SLEEPTRACKER® on your wrist like a watch, its internal sensors can detect even the most subtle physical signals from your body. SLEEPTRACKER® finds your best waking moments, so that waking up has never been easier.
When you sleep, your body goes through a series of sleep cycles. The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages, as illustrated by this chart.
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
A typical sleep cycle has five stages and takes 90-110 minutes. During Stage 1 of your sleep cycle, you sleep lightly. At Stage 2, your sleep gets progressively deeper. At Stages 3 and 4, also known as "Delta Sleep," you sleep most heavily; this is when your body rebuilds itself.
Stage 5 of sleep, also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, is marked by extensive physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration, increased brain activity, rapid eye movement, and muscle relaxation. People dream during REM sleep.
In the first third of the night, Delta sleep stages last longer than REM stages. As the night progresses, Delta sleep diminishes in length. By the last third of the night, Delta sleep usually ceases, while REM stages lengthen.
SLEEPTRACKER® may find multiple almost-awake moments within the sleep cycle. Almost-awake moments may also vary in frequency throughout the night.
By monitoring your sleep cycles for optimal waking moments during the preset ALARM WINDOW, SLEEPTRACKER® finds those almost awake-moments and gently wakes you when you're most alert. The result? You wake up refreshed instead of groggy. Waking up has never been easier.
Worn like an everyday watch, SLEEPTRACKER® is ideal for anyone who wants to wake up alert and ready to start the day, such as frequent travelers across time zones, business people looking for an extra edge, students with fluctuating schedules, or busy moms who need to wake up easily
The Key to Waking Up RefreshedWhy is it so hard to wake up to a normal alarm clock? Because a normal alarm clock can't detect where you are in your sleep cycle - a continuous cycle from deep sleep, to brief almost-awake moments, and back to deep sleep again. Occasionally, your alarm may catch you at an optimal, almost-awake moment and you wake up feeling refreshed, but usually you grope for the snooze button waking up tired and groggy.Wake at Your Perfect TimeSLEEPTRACKER® puts an end to that tired feeling. Once you set its alarm window, it monitors your body and continuously looks for your optimal waking times so it can wake you at just the right moment. Imagine not feeling tired in the morning and getting a few extra minutes out of your day.
http://www.sleeptracker.com/how-it-works.html
Update: If you think the SLEEPTRACKER watch is cool, check out our video of the SLEEPPHASE Alarm Clock!
A few weeks ago we told you about a product called SLEEPTRACKER. The SLEEPTRACKER watch is unique in that while it tells you the time and has a built-in alarm like every other digital watch, this one actually monitors your sleep and wakes you at the moment that your body would best adjust from moving from a sleeping state to being awake. Does it live up to the hype? Find out after the jump.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The SLEEPTRACKER doesn’t come in a fancy package, nor does it contain any sort of add-in accessory. Of course, I didn’t expect either of these things. It is simply a watch. The box basically lets the buyer know what features they can expect out of the product. On the back there is an interesting chart that shows the typical adult sleep pattern. Seeing this changed my mindset from believing that the product was a gimmick, to thinking that is just might be the real thing.
The watch itself is actually very basic in its presentation. Don’t expect to turn heads by wearing it. Don’t get me wrong, as it doesn’t look bad – just average. There are four buttons on the watch – Mode, Set, Glo, and a fourth that is unlabeled. This fourth button can be explained as a “down” or “minus” button. It is used when setting the time, to reduce the number shown. Now, the action takes place on the back of the watch. There is a tiny area that you can see is what will monitor your sleeping state, letting the alarm know when to sound.
SETTING UP THE SLEEPTRACKER
The SLEEPTRACKER came with batteries already installed, so all I needed to do was program in the time and date, along with my preferences. Here is how it went:
Alarm: While this sounds self-explanatory, it really isn’t. The SLEEPTRACKER’s goal is to wake you up and the most optimal time for your body to not feel tired and sluggish. The time that you set on the alarm is actually the latest time that you want to wake up. I set mine to wake me up no later than 6:00 AM.
Window: The window setting allows you one of four choices - :00, :10, :20, or :30. Let me explain this one as well. The window setting is basically the number of minutes before your alarm that you will allow the SLEEPTRACKER to wake you up. Since it monitors your sleep pattern for the optimal moment to wake you, you need to give it a window of time so that it can choose the point within that given time period that you are most awake. I set mine to wake me up whenever it felt best within a 30-minute window. The earliest it would wake me would be 5:30 AM, and the latest was 6:00 AM.
To Bed: The To Bed setting is the time you expect to go to bed. The SLEEPTRACKER starts to monitor your sleep pattern thirty minutes after the time you specify in the To Bed area. I set this to midnight, which meant the SLEEPTRACKER would start monitoring my sleep at 12:30 AM – whether I am in bed or not.
Data: As the SLEEPTRACKER monitors your sleep through the night, it saves the times that you were the most awake during the night. You can review this information on the Data screen. It doesn’t really help you much, but it is interesting to take a look at your sleep pattern.
USING THE UNIT
Okay, this is the easy part for a change. The only thing that the SLEEPTRACKER needed to do to be a success were:
· Tell the time
· Wake me up without me feeling sluggish or overly tired within my specified window
· Monitor my sleep data correctly
Now, I had no doubt that the SLEEPTRACKER would perform just fine as a digital watch, which it did. Setup was simple, and after it was done, I could tell the time and date. However, this watch sells because it wakes you up like you have never been woken up before. I went to bed that evening at the time that I told the SLEEPTRACKER that I would be in bed by. During the night, my baby woke up crying, which in turn woke me up. I remember getting up at about 2:10 AM to calm him down and get him back to sleep. In the morning, I heard the alarm go off. I checked the watch, and it was 5:47 AM. Oh, and yes – I felt perfectly awake and satisfied with the amount of sleep I got. I didn’t feel the need to hit a snooze button of any sort.
After I got up, and did the toothbrush thing, I checked the sleep data. It was very interesting to see the times that the SLEEPTRACKER had recognized as my light sleep/awake moments. Most intriguing though, was that it marked 2:11 AM as one of those moments – right after my son woke up crying!
The truth is, I have been testing this watch for about a week now, and there was just one morning that I was not awakened by it. It was a morning that I simply stayed up way too late to even hear the alarm. That is the thing though. The alarm is not loud – it is audible only because it usually goes off when you are in a light sleep mode. If it doesn’t recognize an optimal time within your window, then it just goes off at your designated alarm time. If you are too tired at that point, that is your problem.
This product really was a pleasant surprise. Most of the things we review at Gear Live are gadgets with interesting or fun gimmicks that make them must-haves or horrible failures. The thing about the SLEEPTRACKER is that it doesn’t provide anything “fun” or “cool” per se. Instead, they have developed a product that actually improves your quality of life. Waking up fully energized on a daily basis is just amazing. It is almost as if there is no lost time, and you just want to seize the day. The product did exactly what it said it would do, and because of that, it gets our highest honor. This one comes very highly recommended.
Specifications
· Customized ALARM Window
· Customized ALARM
· Record, Store, Review Your Sleep Data
· “TO BED” Feature
· Easy To Set
· Works Like A Watch, Too
· Water-Resistant
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/sleeptracker-watch-review-03221147/
Originally inspired by debilitating morning fatigue that followed late night study sessions, Axon Labs has created a true innovation within the sleep industry. Project SleepSmart™ allows a person to both assess the quality of a night's sleep and wake up more refreshed.
Project SleepSmart is a two-part product. A comfortable, wireless headband collects sleep data through proprietary soft sensors that rest on the forehead. The headband wirelessly sends the sleep data to the base station for real-time processing in a sophisticated algorithm. Within a pre-set thirty minute window, SleepSmart activates a friendly alarm during the last moments of lighter sleep.
Forty years of research has shown that waking from deeper sleep results in a longer duration of sleep inertia and morning grogginess. SleepSmart decreases the severity of sleep inertia by waking the sleeper from a lighter phase of sleep. However, SleepSmart is far more powerful as it also helps people learn how to sleep better by providing information on the duration, depth and continuity of each night's sleep. We look forward to unveiling this exciting new product in 2008.
http://www.axonlabs.com/technology/sleepsmart.html
Product Review: Sleeptracker and SleepSmart
As a graduate student I am naturally obsessed with my productivity and on a constant mission to find devices and methods to improve my efficiency and quality of life. One constant problem is that I need to sleep and I feel that the time is wasted. Even worse is when I wake to my alarm to discover that I am groggy and waste even more time in an unproductive funk. Sleep researchers have long known that the brain goes through various sleep cycles during the night and that it is best to awake when brain waves are in a certain pattern. This knowledge has been used to help chronic insomniacs get at least a minimal amount of helpful sleep, but it is clearly also useful for students who want to spend as little time sleeping as possible without losing mental acuity while awake. I experimented with timing my sleep cycles as an undergraduate, but in order to reliably work one needs to be observed and awoken at the appropriate time. Now there is technology to the rescue! A company SleepTracker has developed a wristwatch that detects movement correlated with "light sleep" and activates an alarm to make sure that you wake up during that period, and as close to your desired wake time as possible. Even better is an upcoming product by SleepSmart. Theirs is a headband that actually detects the appropriate brainwaves and wakes you up at the optimal point in your sleep cycle that occurs prior to your desired wake time. You'll always wake up in time and fully invigorated by your sleep (no snooze button pushing anymore). The SleepTracker costs $150 and is available from their website. The SleepSmart system is clearly better, but it isn't available yet. According to their website they project the cost to be in the $300 to $400 range and you can reserve one now (I did). Is it worth it? Just determine your minimal hourly wage and see how many hours it will have to rescue from the abyss of unproductiveness. For example, if you could use that time to earn $20 an hour, then it only has to save you 20 hours…if it saves you five hours a week then it's worth (5*52*$20=) $5200 for just one year's use. If you're a graduate student then you NEED this!http://aaronbramson.blogspot.com/2006/03/product-review-sleeptracker-and.html
SleepSmart Headband Alarm Clock Wakens You From Light Sleep Stage
A company called Axon Sleep Research Laboratories has developed a headband alarm clock that awakens you when you are not in a deep stage of sleep.
Have you ever felt that you have had a full night’s sleep, but you still feel tired when your alarm rings? When we sleep, we repeatedly move through several cycles of brain activity. It is incorrectly believed that an extra 15 minutes of sleep would make us feel better. What actually makes us feel alert and energetic, however, is being awoken out of the right sleep cycle.
The scientific community has known about this phenomenon for decades, but the technology has not existed to take advantage of it — until now. Enter SleepSmart: an intelligent alarm clock that monitors your sleep cycles as you sleep, waking you at the ideal moment from the optimal stage of sleep. This optimal moment might be several minutes prior to your set alarm time. However, when you wake up, you will be refreshed and ready for action — just as if you had awoken naturally.
The device is worn on your head and it analyses your EEG brain wave to decide when to awaken you. The device does not appear to be on sale yet.
They claim that being awakened from a lighter stage of sleep will cause a person to feel less tired.
SleepSmart’s technology is based on the existence of sleep cycles. For the sake of simplicity, we will classify the cycles into 3 categories: light, deep and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Recent scientific research has learned that the way one feels after waking up is determined not by the length of sleep, but rather the sleep cycle from which that person awakens. When awoken from deep sleep, the sleeper feels groggy, tired, and grumpy. However, if someone wakes up from a lighter stage of sleep, no matter how many hours they slept, they still wake up recharged, invigorated, energetic and alert.
SleepSmart capitalizes on this finding by waking people only from light sleep. In order to do this, users wear a soft headband that passively monitors the brain. The end result is the aversion of sleep inertia and the production of a more energetic, attentive and happy morning.
The headband is the idea of a group of Brown University students.
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/002725.html
How does SLEEPTRACKER® work?
SLEEPTRACKER® continuously monitors signals from your body that indicate whether you are asleep or awake. Because you wear SLEEPTRACKER® on your wrist like a watch, its internal sensors can detect even the most subtle physical signals from your body. SLEEPTRACKER® finds your best waking moments, so that waking up has never been easier.
When you sleep, your body goes through a series of sleep cycles. The average adult experiences 4-5 full sleep cycles over an 8-hour period. Each cycle lasts about 90-110 minutes and comprises five different stages, as illustrated by this chart.
No two people have the same sleep cycles, and nobody has the same cycle twice. Many factors can influence sleep cycles, including diet, exercise, medications, drugs or alcohol, stress, sleep disorders, and sleep deprivation. Age and gender can play a role, too: women tend to sleep more soundly than men, and as we age, we sleep more restlessly.
A typical sleep cycle has five stages and takes 90-110 minutes. During Stage 1 of your sleep cycle, you sleep lightly. At Stage 2, your sleep gets progressively deeper. At Stages 3 and 4, also known as "Delta Sleep," you sleep most heavily; this is when your body rebuilds itself.
Stage 5 of sleep, also known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, is marked by extensive physiological changes, such as accelerated respiration, increased brain activity, rapid eye movement, and muscle relaxation. People dream during REM sleep.
In the first third of the night, Delta sleep stages last longer than REM stages. As the night progresses, Delta sleep diminishes in length. By the last third of the night, Delta sleep usually ceases, while REM stages lengthen.
SLEEPTRACKER® may find multiple almost-awake moments within the sleep cycle. Almost-awake moments may also vary in frequency throughout the night.
By monitoring your sleep cycles for optimal waking moments during the preset ALARM WINDOW, SLEEPTRACKER® finds those almost awake-moments and gently wakes you when you're most alert. The result? You wake up refreshed instead of groggy. Waking up has never been easier.
Worn like an everyday watch, SLEEPTRACKER® is ideal for anyone who wants to wake up alert and ready to start the day, such as frequent travelers across time zones, business people looking for an extra edge, students with fluctuating schedules, or busy moms who need to wake up easily
The Key to Waking Up RefreshedWhy is it so hard to wake up to a normal alarm clock? Because a normal alarm clock can't detect where you are in your sleep cycle - a continuous cycle from deep sleep, to brief almost-awake moments, and back to deep sleep again. Occasionally, your alarm may catch you at an optimal, almost-awake moment and you wake up feeling refreshed, but usually you grope for the snooze button waking up tired and groggy.Wake at Your Perfect TimeSLEEPTRACKER® puts an end to that tired feeling. Once you set its alarm window, it monitors your body and continuously looks for your optimal waking times so it can wake you at just the right moment. Imagine not feeling tired in the morning and getting a few extra minutes out of your day.
http://www.sleeptracker.com/how-it-works.html
Update: If you think the SLEEPTRACKER watch is cool, check out our video of the SLEEPPHASE Alarm Clock!
A few weeks ago we told you about a product called SLEEPTRACKER. The SLEEPTRACKER watch is unique in that while it tells you the time and has a built-in alarm like every other digital watch, this one actually monitors your sleep and wakes you at the moment that your body would best adjust from moving from a sleeping state to being awake. Does it live up to the hype? Find out after the jump.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The SLEEPTRACKER doesn’t come in a fancy package, nor does it contain any sort of add-in accessory. Of course, I didn’t expect either of these things. It is simply a watch. The box basically lets the buyer know what features they can expect out of the product. On the back there is an interesting chart that shows the typical adult sleep pattern. Seeing this changed my mindset from believing that the product was a gimmick, to thinking that is just might be the real thing.
The watch itself is actually very basic in its presentation. Don’t expect to turn heads by wearing it. Don’t get me wrong, as it doesn’t look bad – just average. There are four buttons on the watch – Mode, Set, Glo, and a fourth that is unlabeled. This fourth button can be explained as a “down” or “minus” button. It is used when setting the time, to reduce the number shown. Now, the action takes place on the back of the watch. There is a tiny area that you can see is what will monitor your sleeping state, letting the alarm know when to sound.
SETTING UP THE SLEEPTRACKER
The SLEEPTRACKER came with batteries already installed, so all I needed to do was program in the time and date, along with my preferences. Here is how it went:
Alarm: While this sounds self-explanatory, it really isn’t. The SLEEPTRACKER’s goal is to wake you up and the most optimal time for your body to not feel tired and sluggish. The time that you set on the alarm is actually the latest time that you want to wake up. I set mine to wake me up no later than 6:00 AM.
Window: The window setting allows you one of four choices - :00, :10, :20, or :30. Let me explain this one as well. The window setting is basically the number of minutes before your alarm that you will allow the SLEEPTRACKER to wake you up. Since it monitors your sleep pattern for the optimal moment to wake you, you need to give it a window of time so that it can choose the point within that given time period that you are most awake. I set mine to wake me up whenever it felt best within a 30-minute window. The earliest it would wake me would be 5:30 AM, and the latest was 6:00 AM.
To Bed: The To Bed setting is the time you expect to go to bed. The SLEEPTRACKER starts to monitor your sleep pattern thirty minutes after the time you specify in the To Bed area. I set this to midnight, which meant the SLEEPTRACKER would start monitoring my sleep at 12:30 AM – whether I am in bed or not.
Data: As the SLEEPTRACKER monitors your sleep through the night, it saves the times that you were the most awake during the night. You can review this information on the Data screen. It doesn’t really help you much, but it is interesting to take a look at your sleep pattern.
USING THE UNIT
Okay, this is the easy part for a change. The only thing that the SLEEPTRACKER needed to do to be a success were:
· Tell the time
· Wake me up without me feeling sluggish or overly tired within my specified window
· Monitor my sleep data correctly
Now, I had no doubt that the SLEEPTRACKER would perform just fine as a digital watch, which it did. Setup was simple, and after it was done, I could tell the time and date. However, this watch sells because it wakes you up like you have never been woken up before. I went to bed that evening at the time that I told the SLEEPTRACKER that I would be in bed by. During the night, my baby woke up crying, which in turn woke me up. I remember getting up at about 2:10 AM to calm him down and get him back to sleep. In the morning, I heard the alarm go off. I checked the watch, and it was 5:47 AM. Oh, and yes – I felt perfectly awake and satisfied with the amount of sleep I got. I didn’t feel the need to hit a snooze button of any sort.
After I got up, and did the toothbrush thing, I checked the sleep data. It was very interesting to see the times that the SLEEPTRACKER had recognized as my light sleep/awake moments. Most intriguing though, was that it marked 2:11 AM as one of those moments – right after my son woke up crying!
The truth is, I have been testing this watch for about a week now, and there was just one morning that I was not awakened by it. It was a morning that I simply stayed up way too late to even hear the alarm. That is the thing though. The alarm is not loud – it is audible only because it usually goes off when you are in a light sleep mode. If it doesn’t recognize an optimal time within your window, then it just goes off at your designated alarm time. If you are too tired at that point, that is your problem.
This product really was a pleasant surprise. Most of the things we review at Gear Live are gadgets with interesting or fun gimmicks that make them must-haves or horrible failures. The thing about the SLEEPTRACKER is that it doesn’t provide anything “fun” or “cool” per se. Instead, they have developed a product that actually improves your quality of life. Waking up fully energized on a daily basis is just amazing. It is almost as if there is no lost time, and you just want to seize the day. The product did exactly what it said it would do, and because of that, it gets our highest honor. This one comes very highly recommended.
Specifications
· Customized ALARM Window
· Customized ALARM
· Record, Store, Review Your Sleep Data
· “TO BED” Feature
· Easy To Set
· Works Like A Watch, Too
· Water-Resistant
http://www.gearlive.com/index.php/news/article/sleeptracker-watch-review-03221147/
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