<p>I've used the Zeo (<a href="http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/">http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/</a>). It seems to work pretty well. It tracks which stage of sleep you are using a very basic EEG. There are some details on how it operates here: <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/10/how-the-zeo-sleep-device-works.html">http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/10/how-the-zeo-sleep-device-works.html</a></p>

<p>As I said, I've used it in the past and from what I can tell, it seems to be pretty accurate, assuming you don't knock the sensor off while you're sleeping.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T14:04:56.417Z
2013-03-28T14:04:56.417Z
Pete
<p>The gold standard of sleep studies is polysomnography- using multiple sensors together to score sleep stages. It's very expensive and requires a lab. A night in a sleep lab costs about 3000$, last time I checked.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actigraphy" rel="noreferrer">Actigraphy is a cheaper way of monitoring sleep by looking at the users motion</a>. When 19 out of 20 minutes are scored as "no activity", the first minute of the 20 minutes sequence is classified as sleep onset. such Actigraphy algorithms that detect sleep onset latency have to 87% accuracy compared with polysomnography, and at very low cost. Chances are your iPhone or android device can be used as an Actigraphy to detect sleep onset. I wrote one such app for android and 2 for iPhone. Zeo is similar, although it works also by detecting motion related artifacts due to sleep stages, maybe as much as real brain waves. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T04:37:07.593Z
2013-03-29T04:37:07.593Z
Alex Stone
<p>I'm wondering what types of devices exist that can detect how close someone is to falling asleep. I have heard of several devices that may be able to do this, but I haven't been able to find very solid information.</p>

<ul>
<li>EEG: I assume these could detect falling asleep quite effectively; though, I'd like to know if there are any other devices that would work as well.</li>
<li>EKG/ECG: I found <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19964969" rel="nofollow">this paper</a> that claims you can use a Lorenz plot to detect correlation between heartrate and falling asleep.</li>
<li>GSR: A lot of people say a GSR can be used, but I have yet to find any papers/data that describe the correlation between GSR and falling asleep</li>
<li>Pulse Oximeter: someone mentioned to me that these work as well, though I haven't been able to find much information</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T04:45:57.453Z
pupillometry and/or [PERCLOS](http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/tb98-006.pdf)
Jeff
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-28T05:22:45.057Z
@Jeff That's quite interesting; though, I was thinking more along the lines of someone who's laying in bed, trying to go to sleep. In that case, they'd usually have closed eyes the whole time.
Azmisov
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-29T04:47:56.857Z
@what Muscle tone only drops off completely in REM, when there is a gating between circuits in the brainstem and spinal cord (see [this](http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/417/what-causes-rem-atonia-to-be-lost-in-sleepwalking) Bio.SE question).  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has guidelines for sleep onset based on EEG frequencies on certain leads which were originally put forth in a seminal work in the 1960's (Rechtschaffen and Kales), see [this](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2635577/) for a comparison between the two systems.
Chuck Sherrington
<sleep><eeg><devices>
Devices that detect when someone is falling asleep
Azmisov
# Devices that detect when someone is falling asleep

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-03-28)

I'm wondering what types of devices exist that can detect how close someone is to falling asleep. I have heard of several devices that may be able to do this, but I haven't been able to find very solid information.

* EEG: I assume these could detect falling asleep quite effectively; though, I'd like to know if there are any other devices that would work as well.
* EKG/ECG: I found [this paper](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19964969) that claims you can use a Lorenz plot to detect correlation between heartrate and falling asleep.
* GSR: A lot of people say a GSR can be used, but I have yet to find any papers/data that describe the correlation between GSR and falling asleep
* Pulse Oximeter: someone mentioned to me that these work as well, though I haven't been able to find much information

**Tags:** sleep, eeg, devices

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: pupillometry and/or [PERCLOS](http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/tb98-006.pdf)  
> **username_0**: @username_1 That's quite interesting; though, I was thinking more along the lines of someone who's laying in bed, trying to go to sleep. In that case, they'd usually have closed eyes the whole time.  
> **username_2**: @what Muscle tone only drops off completely in REM, when there is a gating between circuits in the brainstem and spinal cord (see [this](http://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/417/what-causes-rem-atonia-to-be-lost-in-sleepwalking) Bio.SE question).  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has guidelines for sleep onset based on EEG frequencies on certain leads which were originally put forth in a seminal work in the 1960's (Rechtschaffen and Kales), see [this](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2635577/) for a comparison between the two systems.  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-03-29. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

The gold standard of sleep studies is polysomnography- using multiple sensors together to score sleep stages. It's very expensive and requires a lab. A night in a sleep lab costs about 3000$, last time I checked.

[Actigraphy is a cheaper way of monitoring sleep by looking at the users motion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actigraphy). When 19 out of 20 minutes are scored as "no activity", the first minute of the 20 minutes sequence is classified as sleep onset. such Actigraphy algorithms that detect sleep onset latency have to 87% accuracy compared with polysomnography, and at very low cost. Chances are your iPhone or android device can be used as an Actigraphy to detect sleep onset. I wrote one such app for android and 2 for iPhone. Zeo is similar, although it works also by detecting motion related artifacts due to sleep stages, maybe as much as real brain waves.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2013-03-28. Score: 7

I've used the Zeo (<http://www.myzeo.com/sleep/>). It seems to work pretty well. It tracks which stage of sleep you are using a very basic EEG. There are some details on how it operates here: <http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/10/how-the-zeo-sleep-device-works.html>

As I said, I've used it in the past and from what I can tell, it seems to be pretty accurate, assuming you don't knock the sensor off while you're sleeping.


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