The sleep tracking app
11-07-2013
We live in a world where new devices and gizmos are constantly being invented and sold to us, half of these are useless or do not work as promised while others are life changing and revolutionary.
In the past few years there has been a dramatic increase in sleep related devices, from white noise machines to sleep trackers. White noise machines have been shown to have a positive effect on sleepers but what about sleep trackers? Are these smart phones apps worth it or are they simply a gimmick designed to take your money?
These smart phone apps are designed to track sleep, with some asking the users to literally sleep with their phones so the phones' accelerometers can detect their movements. The idea being that the app will be able to not only measure the length of your sleep but the different sleep cycles.
While in theory this sounds like a useful application, many sleep experts are sceptical. The reason for this is that there is no way that the phone app is able to accurately measure the different sleep cycles. You need to be hooked up to an ECG to do this. In the end it is an app that tracks noises and movements, which offer little in the way of concrete info on your sleep.
More stories like this one
