What should we think about the connection to our sleep?

There are more and more applications that allow you to connect to analyze your sleep, using your smartphone or watch for example. But is it really effective?

Doctor Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily here evokes sleep and particularly connected objects that allow it to be analyzed.

franceinfo: A study on the subject has just been published?

Martin Ducret: Yes, in the review Sleep Health, in which researchers compared the reliability of 6 connected objects that allow sleep analysis – four watches, a ring and a connected headband – compared to the medical reference tool: polysomnography. This examination is generally carried out in hospital, and it allows sleep to be recorded using different sensors: cerebral, ocular, muscular, cardiac and respiratory.

What does this study reveal?

First of all, the connected objects studied are not simple gadgets, they make it possible to measure certain sleep parameters reliably. Then, for Professor Pierre Geoffroy, psychiatrist at the ChronoS center at GHU Paris and at Bichat hospital, “this study sets scientifically validated frameworks of use for objects available for sale to the general public; it makes it possible to prioritize these different tools according to their technologies.”

For example, in the study, the 2 inexpensive connected watches (around 100 euros) from brands Xiaomi and Axtro – with an accelerometer (i.e. a sensor that measures movements) in their housing – are only reliable for determining wake and sleep phases. While the connected headband, the Dreem 3 – more expensive (around 500 euros) and more elaborate since it integrates an electroencephalogram (that is to say sensors measuring brain activity) – makes it possible to measure the different stages of sleep: slow light, slow deep and paradoxical. Therefore, the more advanced technology the connected object has, the more precisely it is able to analyze sleep.

But with as much effectiveness as polysomnography, the gold standard medical examination?

No, and that is the limit of these connected objects, however sophisticated they may be. Moreover, in this study, they were studied only in so-called healthy subjects, that is to say without disease. For the moment, these objects have no proven reliability in patients suffering from sleep disorders, such as insomnia or sleep apnea for example. They are therefore intended for people wishing to know or improve their quality of sleep. So if you have problems that prevent you from sleeping well, don’t rush to online sales platforms, go see a doctor instead!

For further : information on sciencedirect.com (in English).