Sleep well: 5 innovations in the service of our sleep

Sleep well: 5 innovations in the service of our sleep

We already knew connected watches, able to provide us, on waking, a report of the quality of our sleep. Their secret? An activity tracker that records, throughout the night, our micro-awakenings and periods of agitation, as well as the disrupted sleep ranges. These watches, however, have their limits: they provide us with no key to improve our nights. But new, much more sophisticated objects are coming in because they incorporate technologies that are supposed to help you fall asleep and deepen the quality of your sleep. In this matter, there is urgency because insomnia has become a real public health issue.

To fall asleep calmed: the Morphée sophrology box

Morphée has the look and the mode of operation of the music boxes of our childhood. It offers more than 200 combinations of meditations and guided sophrology sessions, to listen to at night or during a night awakening (with or without earphones) to calm down. Turning a first key allows you to choose one of the 7 themes of the session (body scan, heart coherence, visualization ...). Each theme contains 8 sessions, which you choose by pressing the second key. Finally, with the third, we select its duration: 8 or 20 minutes.

In practice : 79 € on www.morphee.co and also at Darty, Boulanger, Fnac, Nature & Découvertes.

Our opinion. Great asset of this box with the reassuring look: it is totally disconnected. We can forget his smartphone and all screens, which have proven their deleterious effects on sleep.

To educate yourself in the day to sleep better: the UrgoNight helmet

After 5 years of research and development, the company Urgotech launches UrgoNight, with the ambition to re-educate our brain to sleep better, thanks to neurofeedback. Clinical studies have shown that this technology, used since 2000 in some hospital sleep centers, reduces by 53% the number of nocturnal awakenings and by 40% the time of falling asleep. To make it accessible to the general public, Urgotech has miniaturized it in the form of a helmet equipped with mini-sensors, which measure the brain waves. Among these waves, some are specific to the preservation of sleep, and these are the ones that insomniacs have trouble secreting. UrgoNight will help them to produce more, thanks to a dozen programs of playful training, to select via an app on his smartphone. After helping us find the technique that works for us - mindfulness meditation, self-hypnosis, concentration on breathing ... - we grow a tree, we blow soap bubbles, etc. Then we train 3 times a week during the day, 15 minutes for 4 months.

In practice : Still in prototype state, UrgoNight can however be pre-ordered on www.indiegogo.com for € 250 (November 2019 delivery). It will then be sold 500 €.

Our opinion. A high-tech object that attacks insomnia at its root, since it makes us practice a real "brain gym", able to protect our sleep.

To control all the parameters of a good sleep: Homni de Terraillon

Homni diffuses a light whose wavelengths favor falling asleep at night (orange-red) and waking up in the morning (blue, then white). During the day and / or at bedtime, this light can be used to become familiar with cardiac coherence: its intensity increases and decreases to gradually lengthen our inspirations and expirations. The device analyzes the sleeper's environment (temperature, brightness, humidity, noise) and compares it with the sleep data collected by the Dot activity tracker. It gives a sleep score ranging from 1 to 100, as well as tips to improve it by playing on the environment. In addition, a connected belt, Reston, captures the heart rate and measures the respiratory rate, to sensitize the user to a possible arrhythmia or sleep apnea.

In practice : 199 € on www.terraillon.com, Darty, Boulanger, Fnac ...

Our opinion. Design and multifunction, Homni teaches us to relax and arrange our interior to fight against the enemies of sleep.

Not to be bothered by outside noise: Bose Sleepbuds

The idea behind these revolutionary earpieces: to hide the noises that could prevent us from falling asleep or waking up in the middle of the night (door slamming, humming, traffic noise ...) by the diffusion of a constant and soothing sound. The sounds were specifically selected (crackling of a fire, rustle of leaves, murmur of a stream, etc.). In contrast to what happens when our ear picks up an irregular or unexpected noise (change of heart rate and blood pressure, triggering even unconscious emotions, microreveils ...), this background keeps the brain in a neutral state and improves the quality of sleep.

In practice : 269 € on www.bose.fr, in Bose boutiques and at partner retailers.

Our opinion. These highly sophisticated ear buds are a true technical feat that justifies their price. But we do not yet know their long-term effect on hearing, knowing that listening to sounds or music through a headset can damage it.

To increase the time of deep sleep: the Dreem headband

Born from the work of neuroscientists and specialized doctors, this sleep band, to wear at night, is equipped with a miniaturized encephalogram. His algorithms track and analyze brain activity in real time, in order to characterize the different phases of sleep. Once this data is collected, Dreem provides a diagnosis and suggests personalized programs to improve our nights: bone conduction sound transmission to facilitate sleep or increase the duration of deep sleep, meditation or cardiac coherence sessions, cognitive therapies and behavioral (CBT), etc.

The price : 500 €, on www.dreem.com.

Our opinion. Ultra-sophisticated, this object scans the many parameters to take into account to sleep better. A flat: it requires to spend the night with a headband on the head, which could prove tiresome in the long run ...

Sleep well: 5 innovations in the service of our sleep