Buyer Beware | #Sleeptracker technology is impressive, but imperfect. We asked experts whether they can really help you get a better night’s rest. See more in original post below👇 #wearables #sleep #trackers #technology #medtech #digitalhealth #healthcare #mentalhealth #health #wellness #buyerbeware
An article today in the New York Times by Markham Hyde takes a critical look at the value of sleep wearables. Headlined ‘Scam or not – The truth about sleep trackers’, Hyde reports on interviews with a number of sleep specialists, most of whom were not overly impressed with the underlying science, metrics and usefulness of consumer sleep trackers. For example, Dr. Kathy Goldstein, a clinical professor of neurology at the University of Michigan, states ‘: “Ugh, these sleep scores or readiness scores are the worst. I tell my patients to ignore those.” Further “If you’re not sleeping well, having this device that tells you how poorly you’re sleeping might make things worse”. Indeed as we reported earlier, research has found that these devices can stress people out or increase their focus on sleep, which can be deleterious to their health. According to Dr. Kelly Baron, a clinical psychologist and director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine program at the University of Utah “There is still so much we need to learn about the role of sleep, and how patterns of sleep and sleep disruption affect health……..I think the current devices can be fun for people and provide some interesting information……but sleep can’t be boiled down into a set of numbers or scores…….I have patients who come in saying they’re worried because their device is telling them they’re not getting enough deep sleep, but I couldn’t even tell you how much deep sleep is optimal.” And as pointed out by Dr.Mathias Baumert and his team at the University of Adelaide, the mystery is exacerbated by the fact that the algorithms companies use to determine these scores are often proprietary and not scientifically vetted. In other words, buyer beware! Here is the link to the article https://nyti.ms/40ZugiI #wearables #sleeptrackers #sleepstages #REM #deepsleep #sleeppatterns