At the end of August, I published a blog post about how technology (specifically, electronic gadgets) is responsible for “junk sleep.” Right around the same time, another news story surfaced about bio-alarm clocks. Supposedly, the bio-alarm is designed to wake up the sleeper at the “perfect” time, as if there is such a thing. See the Reuters story: “Bio-alarm clocks set for perfect wake-up.”
Here’s a snippet from the article:
The clocks detect brainwaves or body movements and are programmed to wake sleepers during light sleep, which occurs periodically through the night. … Sleep cycles vary from 90 to 110 minutes, so the bio-alarm clocks have a roughly 30-minute margin of error.
Boris Abramov, a fellow who decided to try out the Sleeptracker bio-alarm, thought that the device worked fairly well if he had a good night’s sleep, but he would sleep through the alarm when he was stressed or worked late hours. From this particular review, it doesn’t sound like the bio-alarm is well suited for many IT professionals.
If you’re interested in finding out more about bio-alarms, the following devices are currently available:
- Sleeptracker: This wristband has an accelerometer that reads specific movements common during light sleep
- SleepSmart: This headband has circuits and sensors that read electrical brain waves that vary in frequency during light and heavy sleep
- aXbo Sleep Phase Alarm Clock: A wristband that reads body movements
