Sleep Coach Can Be a Productivity Tool
As much as tech giants such as Apple (AAPL) - Get Report, Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report and Google (GOOG) - Get Report claim their new technologies change the world of work, plain old sleep turns out to be just as important. Get too little and it's tough to make it through the longer projects. Get too much and nothing gets done. So any tool that claims to help me get more -- and better -- rest gets my attention.
The
($199 for the basic version, plus $7.95 per month for guided sleep coaching) is the invention of a group of self-described sleep-deprived Brown University students. The tool, a sort of mobile, DIY sleep lab, collects comprehensive data on your sleeping habits and helps you self-diagnosis and address whatever is getting between you and a good night's sleep.
The Zeo Personal Sleep Coach includes an alarm clock/base station, a standard memory card and a black headband you wear while sleeping. All this can help you sleep ... eventually. |
My assistant Alex and I ordered up a demo unit from the Newton, Mass.-based business and over the past few weeks have given it the snooze once-over. We found the tool takes real effort to use, but is interesting ... and a potential alternative to pharmaceutical sleep aids or for those not ready to commit to overnight visits to a sleep lab.
WHAT YOU GET
This is a fresh approach to getting a good night's sleep.
The Zeo consists of an alarm clock/base station, a standard memory card and a black headband about the size and color of a heart rate monitor. You wear the band overnight, which takes some getting used to. While you sleep, the system collects sophisticated data on your brain patterns, sleeping habits and restfulness. It transmits all that to the Zeo base station, which in turn records the data to an SD card for Web upload.
When you wake up, you tell the Zeo alarm clock how you slept on a scale of 1 to 5. Then you take the SD card, transfer it to the Zeo website via your PC, fill out a quick survey and, poof, before your eyes is a surprisingly intricate graph of your sleep performance.
Overall, as promised, this is a high-quality tool for getting better sleep. The system tells you when you slept well, when you didn't, and how factors such as caffeine and alcohol consumption affect your sleep. Best of all, it gives you guidance on what you can do to get better rest.
Assuming you invest the time, this could help you get the zzzz's you need.
WHAT YOU DON'T GET
This is far from a pop-a-pill, get-to-sleep, seamless sleeping experience.
For one thing, the Zeo headband is darn hard to get used to. Yes, it gets more comfortable over time, but still falls off, which can skew your data. And there is the issue of traveling. Do you take this thing with you on the road?
The fact is, the Zeo demands a lot of effort. You need to wear the headband, fill out an online sleep journal every morning, manage the uploads and overall do what the program tells you to do ... all of which requires a major behavioral change. For example, coffee drinkers be warned: The Zeo really, really doesn't like caffeine. Which, let's be honest, is a deal breaker for many.
With so much effort, it makes you wonder whether you wouldn't be better off going to a sleep clinic and letting an actual sleep professional do all the work.
BOTTOM LINE
If you're looking for a quick fix to your chronic yawning, the Zeo probably isn't it. It takes too long to gain any improvement. But if you are willing to make some changes in how you rest, the Zeo is worth a shot. At the worst, you'll wind up with a nice-looking alarm clock.
And if you're willing to do the work, you just might turn into a world-class sleeper.
Which would be quite comforting, indeed.
>To submit a news tip, email:
.
RELATED STORIES:
>>Wal-Mart, the Business Phone Company
>>DIY Wireless Networks Could Rattle Industry
>>Intuit Makes Quicken Minty Fresh for Web 2.0
Follow TheStreet.com on
and become a fan on
Jonathan Blum is an independent technology writer and analyst living in Westchester, N.Y. He has written for The Associated Press and Popular Science and appeared on Fox News and The WB.
