SLEEPTRACKER Watch

18 APR 2005

SLEEPTRACKER Watch

Waking Up at the Best Time

How often have you been rudely awaked out of a deep sleep when your alarm went off?

That groggy state contrasts sharply with the rested feeling you have when you wake up naturally.

But how can you “rest” assured that you will wake up on time as well?

Enter the folks from Innovative Sleep Solutions who just released the revolutionary SLEEPTRACKER watch which monitors your sleep patterns and wakes you up gently at just the right moment. And on time.

Sounds like magic?

How well does it work in practice, you ask?

Our well-rested Editor has the scoop on this clever device.

I used to have an old Junghans alarm clock that started to tick louder a few minutes before the alarm would go off.

Most of the time that was enough to wake me up in time to prevent that shrill bell ringing.

That’s how I like my awakenings: gently, gently… you don’t want to arouse a grumpy old bear!

So a wristwatch that promises to do that AND wake me also at the best possible time without oversleeping has my attention.

Of course I was a bit skeptical about how it all should work as every person is so different in their sleep patterns but I was keen to try out this device.

The SLEEPTRACKER (Yes, all CAPS) doesn’t look too different from any digital gent’s watch. In fact, it looks remarkably similar to my present NOVUS watch, which I picked for functionality and styling.

So the SLEEPTRACKER straightaway gets bonus points for being my kind of watch as far as styling goes. I don’t care for a fanciful Dick Tracey look even if its capabilities belong to the dream world. Other folks may think the styling is a bit bland.

Off to Bed...

The standard face is the usual Time & Date affair.

Nothing to give away its secrets.

After you’ve pressed the Set button and set the alarm for, say, 7 AM, another prompt appears to set the “Window”.

Now, that might also serve as a reminder to sleep with open windows but here it means that you can set the window (time slot) to wake up at 20 mins for instance.

This means that any time when the SLEEPTRACKER senses that you’re almost awake in the 20 mins before the 7 o’clock deadline, it will gently ring the alarm.

For that to happen it needs to know also your sleep pattern so you tell it in the next prompt (“To Bed”) when you expect to be asleep.

For me that’s generally 3 secs after I hit my pillow but most folks would generally be asleep within 30 mins to an hour.

The watch monitors your “restlessness” – which indicates an “almost awake” moment.

We all toss and turn during the night, shift positions, get up to answer the call of nature, dream fitfully and all those movements are recorded by the SLEEPTRACKER via an accelerometer. Not your actual movements of course but the time when you moved.

Any time the watch is moved by your flailing arm, it jots down the time it happens. But only once every 8 minutes. That filters out a lot of “white noise” that belongs to the same occurrence.

Okay, time to wake up.

The alarm rings softly but loud enough for me to notice as I’m already “almost awake”.

I notice this morning that this occurred at 6.43 AM. This gives me a few bonus minutes in my hectic daily schedule.

Of course, I can take the Snooze option too and just wait for the 7AM signal but I could have fallen back into a deep sleep in that short time!

One of the interesting screens on the SLEEPTRACKER is the Data log over the past 8 hours or so. It gives all the times when I was nearly awake, a total of 21 times the first night! I’m beginning to believe my wife when she says that I’m a fitful sleeper!

The second night I recorded 19 occurrences. Making progress and will let you know when I sleep through the night as a newborn babe!

The last of the Data screens gives you the average of your sleep times in between “almost awake” moments.

Do I feel better and refreshed waking up this way?

Certainly do and although the watch is not meant as a device to skimp on sleep, using it ensures that you’re not wasting sleep either.

Perfect watch?

If that were the case I’d buy the company.

No, there are some areas of improvement that I can think of and when I queried Lee Loree from Innovative Sleep Solutions about some of these ideas he said that the company is looking at implementing these suggestions in the future.

So what’s on my wish list?

First up: the existing alarm does the trick but if your partner is a light sleeper he or she might be woken up as well. My wife often woke up before I noticed the alarm. The obvious solution is a vibrating alarm, much like any cell phone has with an ascending auditory alarm.

These are a bit more power-hungry so a rechargeable battery is probably on the cards (the current battery lasts for about a year).

If you then recharge it via the USB port you can at the same time download the data from many a night’s sleep, giving you a view of your nocturnal behaviour over time.

I mentioned that the alarm is rather soft. Sometimes, it’s too soft, particularly when you have your arm tucked under your pillow or under the blankets you may not hear it. Always have a back-up alarm (cell phone or church bell will do. Here in Australia our laughing kookaburras or chattering magpies will make you curse the new dawn if you wanted to sleep in…)

A ladies watch might also be a natural product follow-up. And finally, watch for real fashion styling on the SLEEPTRACKER when this company makes money while you’re sleeping!

Innovative Sleep Solutions, LLC is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of SLEEPTRACKER.

You can call them at 1-800-617-4509 or visit the company's web site at www.sleeptracker.com to order one.

I'm off to review a watch that gives me an electric shock when it hears me snoring!

(I've always dreamt about doing reviews in my sleep...)

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