Review » Somnus Shirt helps monitor your sleep

Somnus Shirt

Some of us can go to sleep at the drop of a dime, while others resort to many other methods but to no avail. Well, for the most of us who fall under the “average” category, perhaps you might want to see whether you can make the most out of your sleeping time, and what better way to do so than with the help of metrics? The Somnus Shirt from Nyx Devices is definitely one of the cooler shirts to wear whenever you want to get some shuteye, and we will talk about it more after the jump.

Nyx Devices is a start-up company that has just managed to develop a new kind of night shirt, sporting fabric electronics embedded within which will go about monitoring the wearer’s breathing pattern. Don’t worry about your skin being sensitive and all, the Somnus Shirt will not come with any adhesive, cable or any special setup, all you need to do is wear the shirt whenever you are about to retire for the night, and the electronic chip within the shirt’s pocket will get to work while you’re busy dreaming of that holiday in the Caribbean.

The Somnus Shirt, if you will, will be able to process a bunch of data so that it can determine light sleep, REM (dream) sleep or deep sleep. This is clearly a very different picture compared to what you see at sleep clinics, where folks who suffer from sleep disorders are more often than not hooked up to a bunch of cables and sensors in order for specialists to monitor brain and muscle activity, eye movement, in addition to heart and breathing rates. Something tells me that the Somnus Shirt is no replacement for a detailed operation at a sleep clinic though.

Matt Bianchi, a sleep neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is also the co-inventor of the Somnus Shirt, where h and his group intended to design the apparel so that it is capable of performing repeated measurements of sleep patterns over time right in the comfort of your own home. You will need to do your part though, faithfully logging any of your habits that might just affect your sleep pattern.

No idea on when the Somnus Shirt will go into production, but Nyx Devices is looking at a late summer release with a price point that is less than $100. Why not go green and use organic cotton while they’re at it?