Zeo Questions

[John_Jason]

I've been thinking about getting a Zeo, but I have some questions that I can't find answers to.

1) Can it be used without a CPAP machine? I.e., by someone whose therapy is a dental appliance or who has had surgery?

2) I understand that SleepyHead can display the data. I have SleepyHead installed and working fine. How does the data get from the Zeo into the computer? Bluetooth? Wifi?

3) The Zeo website indicates that I need to upload the data to their website. If I can read the data in SleepyHead, why upload it to their website?

4) Is a prescription required?

5) What is the advantage? What kind of data do you get from the Zeo?

And finally, does anyone here have one? Does it work? Can you recommend it? Caveats?

Thanks in advance for responses.

[robysue]

I've been thinking about getting a Zeo, but I have some questions that I can't find answers to.

1) Can it be used without a CPAP machine? I.e., by someone whose therapy is a dental appliance or who has had surgery?

The Zeo is ma mass market device that is sold to anybody who wants to learn more about their sleep. So it can easily be worn by someone wearing a dental appliance or who has had surgery. It will NOT track the very short arousals tied to apneas and hypopneas, and so it is not a particularly effective way of monitoring the effectiveness of treatment for OSA. Its manufacturers also specify that it should not be used as an "at home" way of trying to diagnose the presence (or lack thereof) of sleep apnea.

2) I understand that SleepyHead can display the data. I have SleepyHead installed and working fine. How does the data get from the Zeo into the computer? Bluetooth? Wifi?

3) The Zeo website indicates that I need to upload the data to their website. If I can read the data in SleepyHead, why upload it to their website?

Depends a bit on which zeo you buy. The Zeo mobile uses some kind of wireless connection (maybe Bluetooth?) to communicate with the smart phone, iPad, or other device being used to record the data; the Zeo bedside unit stores the data on an SD card inside the base unit, which doubles as an alarm clock. SleepyHead cannot read the raw data gathered by the Zeo. In order to "read" the data in SleepyHead, you must upload the raw data to the Zeo site and then export the data as a comma separated file to your computer. SleepyHead can then read the common separated file that you download from the Zeo web site.

4) Is a prescription required?

No prescription is required. It's not a medical device intended to treat any particular medical condition.

5) What is the advantage? What kind of data do you get from the Zeo?

It's a mass-marketed "mini" EEG unit. So you get (an approximation) of your actual sleep stage at each point during the night. The web page consolidates the data into 5 minute windows, where the state assigned to the window is the state you are in for the majority of that window---except for WAKE. If you are awake at all during a five minute window, the window is scored as WAKE. In the exported comma separated file, the sleep state data is also scored in 30-second intervals. SleepyHead uses this 30-second interval data to draw the hypopnogram.

Other data? The web site has a built in sleep log of sorts. So you can track a number of factors that may be affecting your sleep. This other data is essentially "optional"

And finally, does anyone here have one? Does it work? Can you recommend it? Caveats?

A recent thread with lots of folks opinions and some discussion on how well it works is found at http://llc.co.ukwww.cpaptalk.com/viewto ... 43#p693459

As for how well it works: It's no where near as accurate as an in-lab PSG. But it only costs $100. And for a $100 mass-market device, its remarkably accurate for many people. The manufacturers claim its about 75% accurate, and that's plenty accurate enough to figure out the large overview picture of your sleep architecture. But again, it's not designed as a device that is accurate enough to measure the small micro-arousals triggered by untreated or insufficiently treated OSA.

[davelikesbeer]

I've been thinking about getting a Zeo, but I have some questions that I can't find answers to.
...
And finally, does anyone here have one? Does it work? Can you recommend it? Caveats?

Thanks in advance for responses.

robysue answered all the others, but let me throw my 2 cents in for the last bit.

I have a zeo mobile. It's a neat toy, but I no longer wear it on a regular basis. I found it was not able to detect when I woke up briefly, which is what I bought it for. The ZQ number they calculate is highly correlated with the amount of sleep I had. This may not be true for all people, but for me the percentage of time spent in each sleep type was about the same night to night, so the ZQ number basically turns into a function of the amount of sleep I had.