During Sleep: Monitoring Movement

A study in the American Chemical Society’s Applied Materials & Interfaces journal brings to light a smart pillow capable of monitoring head movements during sleep. Pain can cause disturbed sleep, and poor sleep can cause pain. Mental health issues, heart disease, and diabetes can be affected by poor sleep. Previously, a sleep test away from home or an app could provide information. Now, this noninvasive and pressure sensitive flexible/breathable triboelectric nanogenerator (FB-TENG) sensor array can be put atop a regular pillow and provide real-time data.

The study states, “the smart pillow also has an early warning function for falling out of bed. This work not only provides a viable sensing device for sleep monitoring but also could be extended to real-time monitoring of some diseases, such as brain diseases and cervical spondylosis, in the future. It is expected to introduce a practical strategy in the real-time mobile healthcare field for disease management.”

 

Access the journal article.

Read the press release.

Other Categories:

• chronic pain

• research/study

• sleep disorders

• technology/robotics