A Way to Monitor Your Sleep Without Wearing a Tracker

Gadgets that monitor your sleeping habits aren't new, but a new prototype by the startup Hello tracks your snoozing patterns and the environment around you — and you don't have to wear anything while you're in bed.

A small sensor-filled ball called the Sense is picking up huge traction on Kickstarter. In less than 48 hours, it has brought in more than four times its goal of $100,000.

The Sense sits on your nightstand and factors in how you're sleeping with your surroundings, such as noise in the bedroom, light, temperature, humidity and particles in the air that could provoke allergies. It tells you when your room is too bright, too warm and when conditions are just right, glowing green for a few seconds to let you know when you're good to go.

The gadget is available in cotton white or charcoal black, and will ship to early backers starting in November. Plus, it sits on your nightstand, which is already a huge improvement over wristband devices that promise the same results. Who wants to put on a device when you tuck in at night?

Sense also comes with a tiny tracker called the Sleep Pill, which clips onto your pillow and acts as a secondary monitor. Sleep Pill, which works with the sister gadget on the nightstand, has an accelerometer and gyroscope, but can also endure the washing machine and lasts up to a year on a single charge. You can attach one to your partner's pillow, too, if you think their movements or snoring are keeping you awake.

Both Bluetooth-enabled devices connect to an iOS or Android app, where the data is processed to discern how well — or not well — you've slept. The platform also gives you a sleep score each night, from 0 to 100.

ou can even play back sounds to determine what woke you up, such as a garbage truck passing by your window at 3 a.m. The scoring system factors in these interruptions; in the truck's case, it would drop the score by 20 points.

But other factors can boost your ranking, too. Sleeping in a pitch black room could earn you 10 points. Ultimately, the goal is to identify key problem patterns and help you fix them; even if you don't get enough sleep, at least you'll get better sleep.

The Sense also comes with a speaker, so you can set it to background noise (white noise or rain), if that will help you sleep. Similar to other fitness trackers on the market, Sense's built-in alarm wakes you up at a specific point in your sleep cycle to avoid you from being groggy in the morning.

Developers can also get their hands on a Sense API, so they can build apps that work with the device, too.

Posted by : Gizmeon