A Better Way To Monitor Your Sleep

Sleep is a necessity yet many people consider it a luxury these days. Many are sleep-deprived not just because of the various tech gadgets they are using endlessly but more so because of sleep disorders like sleep apnea. While not everyone is diagnosed with this condition, the number of people diagnosed with sleep apnea is also growing. Perhaps it is because there are more sleep clinics now where people can get help or that most of us have grown wary of the dangers caused by this sleep disorder that people actually start seeking for medical help rather than endure in silence.

Since you can’t always count on yourself to stop your from snoring while asleep, which is the main symptom of sleep apnea, you can always get yourself one of those handy anti-snoring mouthpieces that are perfect solutions especially for those who aren’t comfortable using conventional devices like CPAP. If you are hesitant to try one, you can consult your doctor to find out which will work best for you. It can either be https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/good-morning-snore-solution or https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx. But there is more good news for all, you can now make use of a smartphone to help you beat sleep apnea and say hello to more good night sleep in the future.

Researchers have developed new software that makes it possible to use low-cost, thermal cameras attached to mobile phones to track how fast a person is breathing. This type of mobile thermal imaging could be used for monitoring breathing problems in elderly people living alone, people suspected of having sleep apnea or babies at risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
In The Optical Society (OSA) journal Biomedical Optics Express, the researchers report that their new software combined with a low-cost thermal camera performed well when analyzing breathing rate during tests simulating real-world movement and temperature changes.

You don’t really need expensive gadgets to help you manage sleep apnea. And it is comforting to know that useful products that aren’t just practical but beneficial to our health are now made available to the masses using the technology we have right now.

In addition to detecting breathing problems, the new approach could one day allow the camera on your computer to detect subtle breathing irregularities associated with pain or stress and then send prompts that help you relax and regulate breathing. Although traditional video cameras can be used to track breathing, they don't work well in low-light situations and can cause privacy concerns when used for monitoring in nursing homes, for example.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-software-mobile-phone-accessory.html)

Thermal cameras can detect breathing when you are asleep at night without any need for you to wear any special type of sensor. Their size and price have dropped as we continue to enjoy advancements in technology enabling the use of thermal cameras in smartphones, a tech staple for the majority of people in the world. They are even making the necessary tweaks so that someday, thermal cameras in smartphones would likewise be able to detect any irregularities in the user’s breathing when the person is in pain or stressed and consequently send signals to help you calm down and breathe normally once more.

This new approach is a more stable than standard chest belt respiratory sensors -- the method could potentially be used to optimize an athlete’s performance by providing reliable and accurate feedback on breathing patterns during activities, like exercise or practice.

The researchers inferred a person’s mental load or stress through automatic breathing analysis. They used thermal imaging software to track the breaking of people who were free to move around while performing tasks. The results aligned with findings from other studies that used more sophisticated equipment. This indicated the portable thermal-camera based approach that could be useful for apps that help people relax.

"By using mobile thermal imaging to monitor only breathing, we obtained results very comparable to what other studies had found," said Bianchi-Berthouze. "However, those studies used complex, state-of-the-art techniques that involved multiple sensors monitoring not just breathing but also heart rate."

(Via: http://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/9809/software-turns-your-smartphone-into-a-breathing-monitor)

Patients who experience such problems are always eager to welcome new innovative solutions in the hope that it can put an end to their sleeping miseries. And what better way to get back on lost sleep and save yourself from the (real, not imagined) dangers of sleep apnea than to use your favorite toy – the smartphone. If the thermal camera technology can be made available to the public, it can save a lot of lives without requiring patients with sleep apnea to spend more money on tech gadgets they rarely find useful at all.

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