Get to know how you sleep with Withings Sleep Analyzer

Sleeping at regular times, being exposed to daylight, having a cool temperature in the bedroom, not drinking caffeinated beverages in the afternoon or using screens before bedtime, are some of the tips frequently given to counteract sleep problems. But to measure your sleep is just as important when it comes to understanding why you don’t sleep well. Withings, pioneers of connected health devices, have developed Sleep Analyzer which provides the user with valuable insights that can be crucial in overcoming their sleep problems.

Today, 19^th of March, is International Sleep Day, established by the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM), which aims to highlight the importance of good sleep and what can be done to counteract sleep problems.

Sleeping well is fundamental to our health. It is during sleep that the body and brain recover, the immune system is activated, the production of stress hormones goes down and important hormones are formed. Good sleep also reduces the risk of high blood fats, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, depression and fatigue syndrome.

Despite all the positive health effects of good sleep there are many people who suffer from bad sleep, especially during the Corona pandemic. This may seem contradictory in a period of less working hours and a greater opportunity to control our sleeping routines according to our biological clock. In Withings' global health report that was presented in January 2021, based on anonymized data of their 5 million users worldwide, the average global sleep time had increased by 9:50 minutes in 2020 compared to 2019. More studies have come to similar results, including an American study of college students that showed that they slept half an hour more per night compared to the time before COVID-19.[1]

However, longer sleep duration does not necessarily mean that we also automatically sleep better. During the pandemic, there have been several reports about people's increased difficulty falling asleep, sleep disorders and lively dreaming. Which has made researchers around the world interested in what consequences the Coronavirus has on our sleep. And the opposite; how sleep affects the body's handling of the virus. Among other things, there are currently eight clinical studies investigating the effect of melatonin against COVID-19.[2]

Although it is too early to draw any conclusions about the actual impact of the pandemic on human sleep, the year of the Coronavirus has taught us the importance of caring for our health. Withings are pioneers of connected health objects with the aim of giving people knowledge about their health in order to prevent serious disease conditions. With Sleep Analyzer, which is an advanced sleep monitor developed in collaboration with sleep physicians, the user gets an in-depth analysis of the night's sleep cycles, sleep quality, heartbeat and snoring. It can also warn of the risk of sleep apnea. A serious but often underdiagnosed disease characterized by repeated pauses in breathing that contribute to fatigue and in worst case is a risk factor for high blood pressure and stroke.

All data from Sleep Analyzer is automatically synchronized to the Withings Health Mate app, where you can follow your sleep over time and gain valuable insights that you can share with your doctor.

”The accuracy of the Sleep Analyzer is close to the one-off measurements in a sleep centre, but more importantly it provides real life data over long periods”, says Dr Pierre Escourrou, Sleep Physician at Béclère Hospital Paris and Withings’ consulting physician.

"It is particularly useful if your sleep is not satisfactory, and you wake up still tired or have moments of fatigue during the day. The results can be reported to your doctor and you can follow the improvement triggered by the treatments”.