I always love a new tech gadget so when my sister-in-law offered to let me try the newest product from a new client I was more than excited. The true story is that she gave it to her sister (my wife) and not only did I try it but I commandeered it as "mine."
The Zeo is made up of a sleep sensor and aesthetically pleasing base unit (i purposefully avoid term alarm clock but it even does that function only more advanced).
Each night the Zeo records all aspects of my sleep and awake states. It captures light and deep sleep, REM (or rapid eye movement) sleep and times awake. More than just noting these makers it captures the duration of each state of sleep.That alone is quite awesome. Zeo takes it a step farther with the a web based application appropriately titled myZeo Personal Sleep Coach. The excellently laid-out Web 2.0 application allows you to upload your sleep data from your Zeo to your online account.
Here is an example of a night-view of a typical nights sleep for me.
There are many views and graphs to explore and my favorite is the weekly ZQ chart that shows a summary of your ZQ score. The ZQ number allows you to "quickly gauge the quantity, quality, and depth of your sleep each night."
The most apprehensive part when I started using the Zeo came when looking at the headband. It turns out to be super comfortable with soft adjustable straps on both sides and a padded sensor front. It is so comfortable that I usually wake up in the morning needing a moment or two to recall I am wearing it. Now with 3 small kids at home there are invariably going to be sleepless nights through no fault of my own. It looks like 4/28 and 5/4 were one of those nights from the above chart.There is not much too improve on either. You can select days to not upload however I haven't been able to remove a specific day like 4/28. I did get lots of sleep that night but probably lost (or threw in a middle-of-the-night tantrum) the headband when tending to one of the kids.
It seems so many aspects were so well thought out. The headband with super easy adjustment, the base station with variable dimming and great graphical display and the myZeo website with dozens of additional features. If I could suggest anything, it would be the addition of an iPhone app to completely tie in my affection for tech gadgets.
...Oh and that alarm clock thing I mentioned earlier, Zeo uses a smart wake (no, really thats the name: SmartWake™) "alarm feature will look for a "natural awakening point" based on your sleep patterns to decrease the grogginess associated with waking from Deep sleep. When SmartWake is selected, Zeo will find a time to wake you within a half-hour of your set time, never later."
Internets: Zeo, myZeo and Zeology
