Fitbit flex?

[Starpilot]

Has anyone used the fitbit flex to help them track their sleep in a quicker (if less exacting) way than pulling the card out every day and using sleepyhead? I don't mean replacing sleepyhead use, just giving me a quick way to check every morning how many times I woke up in the night.

(In case you aren't familiar: http://www.fitbit.com/flex?gclid=COqAge ... fgoduHUAAA)

Thanks!

[CapnLoki]

I used the older fitbit for a while while sleeping, but found it very inaccurate. Remember, it only measures your movement, not your breathing or brainwaves. I tend to lie very still while awake, so fitbit registered that as sleep. Sleepyhead, however, shows a clear change in breathing when I'm not sleeping.

[barrybd]

I have a fitbit force and the Zeo Sleep Manager. There is usually a big difference in the Sleep numbers, with Zeo saying I am awake at least one hour a night more than the Force. Fitbit just knows if you are restless, but not awake. I think that function is fairly worthless.

FWIW, I am really disappointed that Zeo has gone out of business, but I understand 3 other companies are going to enter that market soon.

[chunkyfrog]

I was really hoping for Melon EEG (they look so cool),
but they didn't even come close to their goal on Kickstarter;
and I think there was some buzz about a university coop in the works.

[atotic]

FWIW, I am really disappointed that Zeo has gone out of business, but I understand 3 other companies are going to enter that market soon.

Do you know which companies? I'd love to check up on my kid's sleep.

Watching all the motion sensor companies "tracking your sleep" has been very educational. Very much a "buyer beware" market. Too bad Zeo did not make it.

Aleks

[Starpilot]

I guess my thought is that my AHI is seeming pretty good, but I'm still really sleepy and I'm wondering about whether there are other reasons I wake up at night. Thinking maybe If I saw periods of restlessness, I could start figuring out what those might be. It's just another thing I'm thinking of trying on my quest for a day without sleepiness.

[HerbM]

Jawbone is in this market as the main competitor to FitBits. (Jawbone has made bluetooth headsets for quite a while.)

I am really interested in this topic and would like to encourage everyone to post anything learned.

As to "replacing SleepyHead" that is NOT the reason that interests me most -- but rather to more closely calibrate SleepyHead to determine when I am awake and the events are bogus.

E.G.: Last night, I stopped up BAD, turned the machine on and off, tried for 30 minutes to "breathe through it" and then got up (turning the machine off a 2nd time) to clear my nasal passages and take a decongestant etc.

It is absolutely clear due to the *TWO* machine restarts when I was struggling and during that time I was definitely AWAKE so that portion and the events in there can be ignored.

Had this been a less intrusive episode, I might have woke only enough to change positions etc. and never turned off the machine or certainly not turned it off if my attempt to go back to sleep had been successful.

I was hoping a FitBits/JawBone/cellphone etc might be able to help me to a) know when I am awake or b) EVEN just be able to let me log it easily with minimal disturbance to my position.

For one thing, I would be willing to "Shake my wrist" or "speak a command to my smartphone" to let it know that I had awakened.

Telling it that I am back asleep wouldn't work that well so ideally it could pick up on something for me.

It doesn't need to be perfect but 80% would be nice.

When I look up at the clock (yes, I LOVE having a clock projected on the ceiling) and note the time it would be useful to be able to log that without getting half way out of bed.

As it, I usually run a mnemonic chain to remember my conscious wakings -- won't help when I am just rousing, but as long as consciousness mostly returns then this work fair, but not great.

[chunkyfrog]

Jawbone appears to be accelerometer-based, similar to the Fitbit Flex.
Zeo seems to use sensors to get galvanic response differences on forehead skin--somewhat closer to an EEG.

[HerbM]

There is SleepTracker http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&field- ... de=3760901 also, but it seems to be accelerometer based as well.

A bit expensive $140 but looks like a decent watch.

FWIW: The FitBit items on Amazon with the word "Sleep" in the name seem to very quite a bit in price: $90 -- $150 and I haven't researched enough to understand the differences.

This search at Amazon turned up a lot of RELEVANT hits: sleep tracker

[barrybd]

Alek,

Here is one that is not yet released, but has pricing

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EWIR004/ref ... ZRRBB9A18L

Another is by a company called Withings

http://www.withings.com/en/aura

And I forget the third one, but did see a Kickstarter for it. It looked like Zeo, but said it was useful for "Lucid Dreaming"

The first 2 use a pad that you sleep on to monitor your sleep. Not sure how that works?

[CapnLoki]

As to "replacing SleepyHead" that is NOT the reason that interests me most -- but rather to more closely calibrate SleepyHead to determine when I am awake and the events are bogus.

I don't know if this would work for you, but I've been able to track my sleep/awake times fairly well by watching the respiration line. In normal sleep, I stay at a pretty constant 17 bpm; in REM it fluctuates between 18 and 24 bpm; and when awake it drops down to 14-17, fluctuating a fair amount. This pattern is very clear about 2/3's of the nights, but gets a lot harder to read when I have a "bad night."

I've found relatively little correlation between sleep phase and apnia events, but lately I've been trying to find a correlation with waveforms and wakefulness to help identify "itchy-nose events" and other false positives.

However, it matters little whether there are a few false positives that slightly raise my AHI, or a period of quiet wakefulness that lowers it a bit. The real issue is clusters of events lasting 10 minutes or longer that would have a nasty affect on my oxygen level, and its pretty easy to see when they happen.

[Starpilot]

I did go ahead and order the flex. It interfaces with some interesting looking apps and I figure since its a wrist-band I'll actually wear the thing. Plus I am interested in the other things it tracks as well.

I'll let you know how it goes!

[HerbM]

StarPilot: Which Flex did you order (if there is more than one)?

CapnLoki: Thanks, I am just learning to read the graphs well enough to start picking out patterns like that so I appreciate the pointers.

One thing I hear you saying is that: 10 events together are much worse than 10 events spread out?

When I checked my 7 CAs today they were all isolated and only 10-20 seconds so most were marginal in any case.

(BTW: It's my 6th day.)

[CapnLoki]

CapnLoki: Thanks, I am just learning to read the graphs well enough to start picking out patterns like that so I appreciate the pointers.

One thing I hear you saying is that: 10 events together are much worse than 10 events spread out?

When I checked my 7 CAs today they were all isolated and only 10-20 seconds so most were marginal in any case.

Clusters of events are the major issue. One isolated event every hour is relatively meaningless, assuming its not a 5 minute apnea! Clusters mean that oxygen levels will be driven down to dangerous levels. When I have a cluster, its accompanied by almost continuous periodic breathing and snoring - its a real mess - so even though it may only be one event every few minutes, it really means 30 minutes or so in a condition that could be lethal. Of course, that's not as bad as an AHI of 50, which is like having a continuous cluster all night long.

[Ruinednose]

I enjoy SLEEP TIME app for aNdroid devices and iphone its really good sleep tracker