This mat shocked me into becoming a competitive sleeper
Many of us probably don't pay too much attention to our sleep beyond the hours we get and how rested we feel the next day. However, I've found the product that's made me the ultimate competitive sleeper, and I'm willing to bet it will make you one, too.
French electronics company Withings have released a Sleep Analyser, and it has the ability to revolutionise your sleeping schedule. It costs $139 on sale, which isn't super cheap, but after using mine for two weeks, I feel as though I'm getting information that's very relevant to my overall health, which – in my opinion – is worth a lot more.
NOTE: Prices are accurate at the time of publishing.
Withings Sleep Analyser
What is the Withings Sleep Analyser?
The Withings Sleep Analyser is a mat that sits beneath your mattress and is powered via a USB cable, meaning you just need a port to plug it into. Aside from some whirring when it calibrates for its first use, it is noiseless and basically undetectable, apart from the cord extending from under your mattress.
While most sleep analysis would require you to wear something – usually a fitness watch, or if you're going to extremes, wires hooked up to monitors – this product analyses your sleep without interrupting it, or touching you.
An incredibly capable product, Withings have designed a mat that can help detect sleep apnea, which is what sets it apart from a regular device that might be able to track your sleep, such as a Fitbit, Garmin or Apple Watch.
And if you're unsure of its legitimacy, the Withings Sleep Analyser has actually been used in scientific studies on sleep.
Cancer Council's Australian Breakthrough Cancer Study invited 14 participants to partake in a pilot study on sleep using a Withings sensor, where they measured sleep duration, efficiency, cycle, sleep apnea, and position, as well as the snoring, heart rate, respiratory rate, and temperature of the participants.
While you might not need this complete bevy of detail on your snoozing habits, the Withings Analyser is the perfect product for anyone who struggles with their sleep and is unable to pinpoint the reason.
I'm a relatively healthy, mid-twenties woman who didn't have many obvious issues when it came to sleep, so the results of my first few nights with the mat shocked me a little bit.
How important is sleep?
Honestly, sleep is way more important than I realised. Of course, we need our recommended eight hours each night in order to feel rested, but when we don't the flow-on effect can be huge, impacting all aspects of our lives.
This can be broken down even further into our stages of sleep. We need enough deep, REM, and light sleep to fully recover from our day and remain at optimum health. Light sleep should take up a recommended 55 per cent of our night – a physiologically important stage, but also the least restorative. REM (which stands for rapid eye movement), should ideally account for 20 per cent of our sleep and is the stage that's most important for emotion regulation and memory consolidation. Deep sleep, which should ideally happen across 25 per cent of the night, is where we recover from physical fatigue. It also enables learning and memory consolidation.
Using their gathered information, Withings have been able to share their knowledge via their blog and their Health Mate app. By perusing, I've learned how important sleep is for maintaining a healthy weight and normal blood pressure, how daily activity influences our sleeping, and how to improve my chances of sleeping better in order to keep a healthy lifestyle afloat.
What I learned about my sleep from using the analyser
I'm a relatively healthy, mid-twenties woman who didn't have many obvious issues when it came to sleep, so the results of my first few nights with the mat shocked me a little bit. Although not normal for me, I had been struggling a little with my sleep over the preceding month, probably just due to a bit of extra stress. But when I got a 'bad' score for my sleep depth during the first week of using the mat, I knew I needed to probe deeper.
As the nights continued, I was scoring 'bad' on sleep depth, and 'poor' on sleep regularity, which meant I was varying my bedtime and wake-up time too much for the mat's liking. And no matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to get even close to the 25 per cent mark for deep sleep, spending most of my night in 'light sleep', which is the least restorative stage of sleep.
Withings spokesperson, cardiologist and sleep physician Professor Pierre Escourrou, recommends putting in place a regular sleep schedule, as it will help get your body into a routine – something I took on pretty quickly. But it also made me notice that my lack of physical activity during my day, due to a busy schedule, needed to change, so I made the decision to bring that up the priority list as well.
Escourrou also recommends a 'sleep ritual', so instead of dithering about each night wondering what I should do before finally turning out my lamp, I downloaded a new book series on my Kindle, bought myself some roll-on lavender oil, and committed to a half-hour of reading before sleep while breathing in the smell of the oil. It's not much of a routine, but it's something.
I'm still waiting to see my deep sleep score improve, but my overall score has started to go up slowly, which my competitive streak is taking as a positive.
Pros of the Sleep Analyser
- It might be my competitive nature, but seeing the results of my sleep analysis has made me want to be a better sleeper. I can now directly see the impact poor sleep has on my day-to-day life, and the analyser has encouraged me to get on top of that.
- Its sleep apnea detection is really important for some users, who might be unaware they're suffering from the condition. Through detection users can take this information to their GP and have their condition investigated further and the appropriate treatment prescribed.
- It also detects snoring, which is something you might want to identify and work to change, especially if you share a bed.
- It's undetectable when it comes to your own sleeping, you can simply check the results the next day.
Cons of the Sleep Analyser
The Withings Health Mate app is reminiscent of Apple Health – it takes measurements aside from your sleep, such as your daily step count. If you're someone who doesn't carry your phone around, the overall measurements can look really underwhelming. Luckily, Withings has enabled the importation of data from Fitbit, which can be sorted out here.
Is it worth it?
While the mat might seem like 'just another gadget', I can guarantee it has already helped with my health goals even if the changes are slow to notice – Rome wasn't built in a day. So if you struggle to get to sleep, stay asleep, or can't seem to ever wake up feeling rested, this unassuming mat could be just the thing to sort your sleep. I promise the flow-on from a good night's sleep will mean great things for your overall health and well-being. And who doesn't want that?!
It's also currently available for $139, and can be shopped now on Amazon.
Withings Sleep Analyser
Looking for more ways to track your health? Try these!
Withings Steel HR Smart Watch
Withings BPM Connect Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor
Withings ScanWatch Horizon
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