Sleep disorders have landed many people in the hospital. Fortunately, Sleepwell, a Japanese medtech firm established in 2010, just invented an alternative to the traditional EEG-based way of administering a sleep study, called Sleep Scope.
EEG (electroencephalogram, a medical device that detects abnormalities in the electrical activity of the brain)
According to techinasia: Sleep Scope is comparable in size to a deck of cards and uses only two electrodes – one for the head and one for the neck.
Sleepwell founder and CEO Masaki Yoshida said:
EEGs are usually very large, with multiple electrodes on the head, face, and body” Sleep Scope is easily portable and thus can be used in the comfort of a someone’s home. And this could lead to even more accurate results, because patients are not covered in wires and sleeping in a strange observation room at a hospital.”
Sleep Scope identifies sleeping problems by collecting data on sleep depth, rhythm, and quality. Which can later be analyzed by a medical professional in order to make a prognosis. The startup holds a patent related to measuring depression and bipolar disorder indicators.
If we administer a blood pressure test, we can find out about a person’s current state of health,” according to Yoshida. “By monitoring sleep waves, we can get an idea about mental health issues.”