Artificial light, and now information and communications technologies are some of the factors responsible for people sleeping less, so it is fitting ZEEQ is using the same technology to help with better quality sleep.
ZEEQ is a smart pillow that streams music, stops snoring and helps you sleep smarter. It is currently on Kickstarter having raised more than $328,000 with less than a week left on the campaign. The initial pledge goal was $50,000, and raising six times that amount probably says much about the sleep deprived state in which society finds itself.
According to Warrick Bell and Miguel Marrero, the creators of ZEEQ, this pillow monitors and reacts to your snoring, analyzes your sleep and intelligently wakes you up. It also plays music from Spotify, iOS Music, Android Music and the company's own tracks with binaural beats.
Bell and Marrero might be surprised by the interest ZEEQ has received, but sleep deprivation is a serious problem for businesses across all sectors. According to a Harvard study, insomnia is responsible for 11.3 days being lost by the average worker in the US alone, which comes out to $63.2 billion annually.
Although the financial loss is staggering, the decisions made by employees and leaders that are not sleeping well could prove to be even more costly. Another study carried out by McKinsey&Company surveyed 81 organizations around the world with 189,000 people, and it revealed some startling information proving the link between effective leadership and a good night's sleep.
Some of the mental capacities affected by leaders who did not sleep well include: attention, concentration, development of insight, learning and memory, decision making, emotional reactions and more. It goes without saying, if a decision is made while any of these capacities are impaired, the outcome could prove to be catastrophic. So it should not come as a surprise when 70 percent of the leaders in the study suggested sleep management should be taught in organizations, just like any other skills.
Apparently some companies have been doing this for some time. As reported by The Washington Post Goldman Sachs, Johnson and Johnson, and Google have different types of programs in place to increase sleep deprivation awareness and coaching by sleep experts.
With this in mind, the features of ZEEQ seem all the more timely. See if you might be interested in buying one for yourself, or your employees so they can be more productive too.
ZEEQ Smart Pillow 101
ZEEQ begins by helping you fall asleep with the music of your choice through the pillow with eight precision placed speakers. You can set the timer so the music stops after you fall asleep, and that is when it starts working.
Using a 3-Axis gyroscope, vibration motors and individual decibel tuned microphone, it listens and senses how you are sleeping. Based on the readings it gathers, it can gently vibrate so you can change your sleeping position if you happen to be snoring. Additionally, it records your movements to wake you up during at the best time based on your sleep cycle.
ZEEQ has an app you can use with your smartphone to monitor the data, which includes Snore Score, and other health related options, such as your diet, exercise and other habits that could potentially contribute to how you sleep.
Currently the pillow is available through the Kickstarter campaign with several different pricing options. The super early bird and two subsequent early bird offers which priced the ZEEQ at $99, $129, and $149 respectively are sold out. However, there are more options starting with $179 and going all the way up to $5,000.
Whether you buy ZEEQ or not, you should do everything you can to improve the quality of your sleep. And if you have a small business, encourage your employees to do the same. Not only will they be more productive, but they will also be much healthier.
You can visit the Mayo Clinic site here for some other steps you can take for better sleep.
Image: ZEEQ/Kickstarter
This article, "Smart Pillow ZEEQ Plays Music, Stops Snoring, Analyzes Sleep" was first published on Small Business Trends
No comments:
Post a Comment