Omron dabbled in "sleep meter", 85 yen iphone apps become a competitor

Recently, a number of health-related data can be measured at home, the most notable of which is "sleep." In 2010, Rebekah launched a home sleep meter that detects sleep depths. In 2012, its rival Omron health care will also be involved in the sleep instrument market.

OMRON Health care company President Otaki Hodada announced the sale of "sleep meter", "Sleep Timer" two items

Sleep state detection is a concern because the Japanese have a short sleep time. The OECD survey of 18 member countries showed that the shortest average sleep time was for Koreans, 7 hours and 49 minutes, followed by Japanese, for 7 hours and 50 minutes. And the longest sleep is the French, for 8 hours and 50 minutes.

In other words, most Japanese are in a state of lack of sleep, but prolonged sleep alone does not improve the state. In fact, it is difficult to sleep at night, suffering from insomnia is not a few people. Sleepiness is also influenced by the circadian clock in addition to the fatigue that accumulates during the day. Even if the body needs to rest, it is very difficult to fall asleep if the biological clock thinks it is "less than bedtime".

Research shows that the biological clock is mainly adjusted by light, and in today's brightly lit 24-hour society, the biological clock often appears to be chaotic. And if bedtime and waking hours are not fixed, the circadian clock will become more chaotic.

Conversely, if the biological clock is consistent with daily sleep, even if you do not extend sleep time, it is possible to deepen sleep, effectively eliminate physical fatigue.

When to sleep and when to get up is the most efficient? To understand this, first of all to grasp the "accurate" sleep time. The reason to add "accurate" is that most people understand that sleep time is not accurate. Generally speaking, people will sleep when they get up, but no one can fall asleep as soon as they are covered with a quilt. There are errors in bedtime and sleep time, and it is impossible to grasp the exact time of sleep. But if you use a sleep meter, you can basically accurately record sleep time.

Lida uses liner sensing, OMRON uses wave sensing

A wide variety of sleep instruments. The method used in medical testing is PSG (multiple-guide sleep monitoring). This instrument is used to detect the state of sleep by detecting brain waves, eye movements, body movements, respiration, heart rate and other data. Although the detection is accurate, but must set up the sensor in each part of the body, is not suitable for the household daily inspection.

To this end, in May 2010, the introduction of the bed under the quilt and mattress, built-in sensors, "sleep Scan SL-501". This instrument can record breathing, pulse, turn over body movements, so as to determine the time to sleep and sleep depth.

But this instrument also has a real price of up to more than 30,000 yen, set a slightly troublesome disadvantage.

On the other hand, the "Sleepdesign HSL-101" (Recommended retail price of 19,800 yen), which is about to be sold on the OMRON health care business on May 10, 2012, uses radio sensors. Simply placed in the bedside can be in a non-contact state to capture the human action within 1.5m. When used, the instrument is placed in the position of the 50cm~1m of the chest to record the movements of the chest in the process of turning over and breathing, and to determine the state of sleep.

The author actually tried the product, the feeling record is quite accurate. On the day of the trial, an earthquake occurred in the early hours. Although I woke up because of the shaking of the earthquake, but because not to get up time, over and over, I do not know when again into Dreamland. These 10 minutes are accurately labeled "Waking time."

Moreover, HSL-101 is not only a function of recording sleep state. It is also able to use the mobile wallet function to deliver data to the company's health Management Service, "wellness LINK", an Android application. It can also be divided into three levels of sleep, in hours, the graph shows the sleep state. can also be shown in tabular form of 1 weeks a day of sleep and sleep time, so that users visually control their sleep state.

In addition, the sleep meter can analyze sleep trends and display analysis reports based on 14-day measurement data. Users who pay 315 yen a month to become wellness Link's senior member can also participate in the Sleep status Improvement program "Sleeping challenge." This is a plan for users to identify possible ways to improve their sleep habits, identify possible improvements, and challenge them within two weeks. Changes in sleep detection results will be sent to the user in the form of a report, and the user may initiate new challenges to further improve sleep based on the results identified.

Waking in Shallow sleep

Omron health Care will also launch another new product, "Sleep Timer," on April 10. The product name is "Sleepdesign Lite HSL-001". As with the name "Lite", its positioning is simpler than the sleep apparatus for getting started. The proposed retail price is only 5980 yen and the function is reduced to two.

The first feature is the accurate recording of sleep time. But the product does not record the depth of sleep like a sleep instrument. Its use is the acceleration sensor, and not the radio wave sensor, placed in the pillow can detect the movement of the bedding when the roll up. Take the time to fall asleep and record when the body moves less. When you get up, record the time to turn off the alarm.

As with the sleep meter, the data is sent to the Android app, and the time spent sleeping and waking up is displayed in tabular form. By accumulating data on a daily basis, the deviation from bedtime and waking hours can be at a glance. Based on this data, users can find bedtime and waking times that are appropriate for their circadian rhythms.

Another function is "refreshing alarm clock". The brain is hard to wake up if it is forced to awaken in deep sleep. To do this, the product starts the sensor 30 minutes before the user prepares to get up, ringing the alarm clock when the body moves more and sleep becomes lighter.

In actual use, the alarm clock rang 23 minutes earlier than the time I was prepared to get up. But I feel very refreshing. Shortening the precious sleep time is a pity, but getting up early is better than late, which is also helpless. The sensor start time is set to 30 minutes before the alarm clock, but can be adjusted between 60-10 minutes, if you do not want to wake up too early, just set the sensor startup time slightly later. But the shorter the sensor's working time, the less likely it is to get up "cool". The ideal state should be to get up early and not depressed to ensure adequate sleep time.

85 Yen iphone apps become a competitor

In fact, this "refreshing alarm clock" function has already been implemented in the iphone application software. The software is named "Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock". Using the iphone's built-in accelerometer, the principle is the same as the sleep timer. Starting the sensor 30 minutes before getting up is the same thing.

In this respect, Omron said: "Our sleep Timer detects a higher degree of sleep accuracy." "The reason is that the weight of the host is different. Because the sleep timer weighs only 64g, less than half the weight of the 140g iphone, it is easier to detect the finer movement of bedding.

But the price of the app is only 85 yen. It is also a good choice to try out the software first and change the sleep timer when you are not satisfied with its effect or want to detect more precision.