Do you toss and turn throughout the night, or are you a healthy, sound sleeper? The answer may surprise you. After all, how many times have you dragged yourself out of bed after what you thought was a good night's sleep, only to doze off in the morning meeting?

Everyone knows the importance of a good night's sleep. During sleep, our bodies form red blood cells, release hormones and renew tissue. Recent studies even indicate that during sleep our brains process and organize the information we've gathered during the day. And of course, when we're short on sleep, we're also short-tempered and irritable, we make poor decisions, and lack concentration. We all know we need sleep, but an astonishing number of us think we're getting it, and aren't.

Numerous sleep studies have been published in prestigious journals indicating that physical restlessness is a reliable indicator of poor sleep. These studies have also shown that the measurement of arm movements during sleep correlated very well with the quality of sleep. Subjects with excessive arm movements scored much lower for their overall sleep patterns than those with notably fewer arm movements indicating a better quality of sleep.

Until now, the only way to objectively analyze the nature of your sleep was to enroll in an overnight procedure at a sleep laboratory. All you need is a referral from your physician and several thousand dollars, and then you can sleep peacefully in a strange bed, attached to dozens of electrodes and sensors wired to a polygraph and a computer, while TV cameras record your every move. These clinical procedures however, are designed to evaluate various sleep disorders and not for measuring your quality of sleep. Clearly, a simple, inexpensive sleep meter for home use is long overdue.

Now, IM Systems introduces BedMate, the first consumer product of its kind for scoring the soundness of your sleep in the comfort of your own bed . . . or is it as comfortable as you thought? Using cutting edge technology, this exciting new device records your arm movements during sleep and rates your overall physical movements to generate your Sleep Profile. On a scale of 1 to 100, a high score suggests extremely sound and peaceful sleep, while a low score implies excessive restlessness. The better your sleep, the higher your profile score. It couldn't be any simpler.

BedMate straps to your arm just like a wristwatch. Press its single button when you climb under the covers, and BedMate goes into action. Once BedMate is activated, the sleep timer starts counting and the flashing dots on the LCD lets you know it's in the recording mode. When you awake, the time displayed on the LCD tells you how long you have slept. Just press the panel button again - for about a second, and BedMate's LCD readout will display your Sleep Profile score. . . a clear indicator of just how well you really slept.

Simple adjustments to your lifestyle, such as changes in physical activity or diet, or even simply rearranging your daily routine, can enhance your sleep. In today's busy world, we're all looking for ways to improve our quality of life. Your BedMate can help you uncover a hidden drain on your physical resources.

Note: BedMate is designed to measure arm movements to compute your nightly sleep profile score. The monitor is not intended as a substitute for actigraphy or clinical polysomnography. 

Call (888) 513-5969 for pricing.

References:
Verbeek, et al., Perceptual Motor Skills, 2001; Gorny and Allen, Sleep, 1999; Published Abstracts (#309 and #231) presented at the 10th and 11th Annual Meetings of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. Articles presented by Spiro, Allen, Krausman and Gorny at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Northeast Sleep Society, Windsor, CT, 2003 and the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, Chicago, IL, 2003.