Sleep is crucial for rejuvenating our brains and bodies, and thanks to smartphones and fitness trackers we’re able to get deeper insights into our nightly dozing.
SleepHealth, a new iPhone app powered by IBM’s Watson intelligence system, is the latest app aimed at helping us understand how we sleep.
SleepHealth uses the sensors in your iPhone or Apple Watch to measure users’ movements throughout the night. It also uses the Apple Watch’s heart rate monitor to detect when the wearer has fallen asleep. The app then offers suggestions for living healthier and sleeping better.
SleepHealth includes a nap tracker and a personal sleep concierge, which were “designed specifically with the Apple Watch in mind,” according to IBM. When Apple’s next iPhone update launches, SleepHealth will reduce light exposure before sleep through Apple’s new Night Shift feature.
Many health-related apps can offer feedback on sleeping patterns, such as SleepCycle and Sleep Time+. What makes SleepHealth different is that it aims to gain a better understanding of sleep in general by using Apple’s ResearchKit framework. Made with the American Sleep Apnea Association, SleepHealth allows users 18 and older to complete surveys and tasks as part of a larger study aimed at helping doctors and researchers explore the impact of sleep on daytime activities.
See the Futuristic Pods That Could Change How We Travel
MIT's team focused on creating a design that is "safe, scalable and feasible."MITThis German team's says its pod's most unique feature is "the big compressor on the front, which considerably reduces the drag and will assure that the pod is scalable."Technische Universität MünchenCarnegie Mellon's team says its design "makes clever use of stored air . . . to drive pneumatic actuation assemblies within the pod while also providing a major safety feature."Carnegie Mellon UniversityLehigh's design "strives to create the optimal end user experience by focusing on creating a unique ride that is comfortable, stable, economical, and accessible to all."Lehigh UniversityAuburn's pod "utilizes Arx Pax Hover Engines for magnetic levitation, a mechanical landing gear, and aircraft fuselage structural design."Auburn UniversityPurdue's Team
designed a carbon fiber structure that uses air bearings for levitation, permanent magnets and friction brakes for braking, and compressed air tanks for thrust.Purdue UniversityThe University of Cincinnati's pod is "scalable, efficient and modular which employs counter-rotating fans for air bypass, dual fail-safe braking mechanisms and magnetic levitation."University of CincinnatiThis Japanese design is "able to levitate magnetically at stationary, have multiple fault tolerances for each subsystem and maintain minimal impact to the track."Keio UniversityThe University of Wisconsin's pod "is designed from the ground up to be completely fail-safe and passenger friendly; it can stop within 200 feet with no power required."University Wisconsin MadisonThe University of Maryland and Rutgers University joint team's pod, Prometheus, "uses a unique geometry of permanent magnets to induce levitation as the speed of the pod increases."University Maryland Rutgers UniversityThe University of Florida's team "chose to keep a simple design, using wheels, optimizing speed and performance."University of FloridaThe Egyptian school's team used "a single-sided linear induction motor for propulsion and air-bearing-slider mechanism for levitation."Cairo UniversityThe Irvine team says that "out of the top five teams from design weekend, HyperXite is the only one utilizing a pneumatic levitation system." University of California IrvineThe Virginia Tech team is using "Halbach arrays used for levitation, stability, and braking, as well as a cold-gas thruster the pushes us faster than the competition."Virginia TechThe Oral Roberts team is keeping costs low by using "in-house manufacturing and building our own systems rather than buying off the shelf components."Oral Roberts UniversityThis Canadian team "aimed at simplicity and ease of manufacture."University of WaterlooThe University of Toronto's team says that "by leveraging our team's design and fabrication experience with carbon fiber, we've created a pod that's exceptionally lightweight, yet strong enough to take intense loads."University of Toronto
To do this, the app also tests users’ alertness during the day and can track their physical activity. Data from these surveys is stored and analyzed in Watson’s Health Cloud, where researchers can examine it to parse together patterns.
