Headline September 22, 2018/ '' 'GADGET THAT-AIDS SLEEP?' ''

'' 'GADGET THAT-AIDS SLEEP?' ''

TECHNOLOGY GADGETS have helped us work more productively and play more. But they have also exacerbated a problem : poor sleep.

Obsessed with number of ''likes'' you get on an Instagram photo or a Facebook post? Check.

Do the devices keep you up at night with bright screens? Check. Do you keep sneaking glances at your smartphone for new messages, news and more? Check.

Even the mere presence of a smaller screen in the bedroom has been been associated with shorter sleep.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which have declared sleep deprivation a public health epidemic, with one-third of American adults getting insufficient slumber, recommend ''turning off or removing televisions, computers, mobile devices from the bedroom.''

But what happens if there is a technology that actually helps you sleep?

That's what I wondered when i heard that BOSE, a well-known audio brand, had developed a pair of  $250 earbuds to mask noise and help people doze off.

The tiny wireless earphones, called Sleepbuds, fit snugly inside your ears and play soothing sounds, like the rustle of leaves or a crackling campfire, on a loop all night.

The sleepbuds are a part of a nascent category of sleep tech products. Those include sleep - monitoring wrist bands and mattress pads from companies like Fitbit and Withings, and special lights that help you get out of bed from Philips and Verilux.

After I spent five nights with the sleepbuds, my verdict was mixed.Though the earbuds are well designed and comfortable, they didn't help me sleep more.

Over all the product did a  good job of helping me ignore annoying noises at night, which helped me conclude that noise was not the root of my problems.

Here's what I found:

Impressive With Drawbacks : The Sleepbuds are a solid piece of industrial design, A metal  hockeypuck-shaped case slides open to reveal the earbuds.

The case holds each earbud in place with magnets. When you remove the earbuds, they turn on : when you clip the earbuds back onto the magnets, the case recharges their batteries.

The clever design is reminiscent of Apple's AirPods, which also come in a carrying case that doubles as a charger.

Yet the Bose case could be better. When you open it up, its LED light illuminates to signal that the  Sleepbuds are charging that is helpful for seeing the tiny earbuds in the dark.

The downside is that the case does not light up when you open it to store the Sleepbuds. When I got up early in the morning before the sun came up : I struggled to put  Sleepbuds back back inside the case in the dark and ended up leaving them on my nightstand.

The earbud modules are also extremely small - about the size of a pinkie fingertip. You insert them  into silicone tips that go into your ear canal and tuck into your ear ridge. Bose provides three sizes and I used the small eartips.

The sleepbuds are noise masking - not noise cancelling - earbuds. Noise cancelling  earphones  eliminate low frequency noises, like the engine of an airplane, but they don't cancel out loud noises like a snorer next to you or a screaming baby.

Noise masking involves playing a background noise that helps your brain stop paying attention to unwanted sounds.

Many people simply can't sleep comfortably with objects inside their ears, so if these don't work out for you, take advantage of the 30day return policy.

For me, I'm lucky if I sleep more than six hours a night without interruptions. With the Sleepbuds, I continued getting an average of about five and a half-hours of sleep a night.

I kept a sleep diary and found that I often woke at around 3 or 4 a.m. The common culprit : anxiety about future events, queasiness from something I ate or my cat's jumping on my chest.

So thanks, Sleepbuds, but tech probably isn't my solution.

The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Brian X. Chen.

With respectful dedication to the  Students, Professors and Teachers of the world...........  For a great night sleep see Ya all ''register'' on : www.wssciw.blogspot.com - The World Students Society and................  Twitter - !E-WOW! - Ecosystem 2011:


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