Snore absorption room to give travelers restful sleep

by Chris Owen on

A UK trial of a snore absorption room by Crowne Plaza Hotels promises relief for travelers without medication or specialized equipment. The new room is a result of research revealing more than half of UK couples are losing between one and five hours sleep a night due to the snoring and snuffling of their partners with three in ten couples coming close to splitting up because snoring is coming between them.

“We’ve all been there. Lying wide awake at three o’clock in the morning burying our head under a pillow to drown out our partner’s snoring. There’s nothing worse than being kept up all night and that’s why we’ve designed this specific snore absorption room to help give our guests a great night’s sleep” said Tom Rowntree, spokesperson for Crowne Plaza in a release.

The new hotel room features sound proofing on walls to absorb the loud frequencies, a special sound absorbing head board, an anti-snoring bed wedge which acts as a body pillow, an anti-snoring pillow which uses magnets and a white noise machine which is proven to help drown out the droning snoring noise and help sleep and relaxation.
“Snoring is a common problem and whilst it’s thought of as a male problem, women can suffer from it as well. Snoring is made by vibrations of the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose and throat. Whilst there is no cure for snoring, Crowne Plaza is trying to reduce the impact of snoring by trialing a snore absorption room.” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, sleep expert.

Crowne Plaza is big on the whole idea of sleep. Their Sleep Advantage Program features dedicated quiet zones, luxurious bedding and pre-sleep in-room Aromatherapy that includes a lavender pillow spray and eucalyptus pulse oil to help you relax, breathe easier and sleep well.

That’s good news when traveling with a stranger who snores but chronic snorers are encouraged to take a look at other, more permanent, remedies which often treat the cause. Sleep Apnea, says the Mayo Clinic, “is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep” urging “If you think you might have sleep apnea, see your doctor. Treatment is necessary to avoid heart problems and other complications.”

Flickr photo by Perfecto Insecto

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Create a snapshot of your sleep and fight off jet lag – Gadling reviews the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach

by Scott Carmichael on

As part of the National Sleep Awareness Week, we’ve been taking a look at some gadgets and services that can help improve your sleep. Earlier this week, we introduced you to Sleeptracker, and today, we’ll show off a gadget that actually creates an exact snapshot of how well (or poorly) you slept.

The Zeo Sleep Monitor consists of three parts – the bedside clock, a headband sensor, and an SD memory card. The combination of these allows you to monitor your sleep down to the minute – the system knows when you are awake, in deep sleep, REM sleep or light sleep. At the end of the night, you can review your sleep on the display, and upload your sleep report to the Zeo web site.
The Zeo unit and headband

The Zeo unit looks really nice – it features a large display that shows the time, battery status of the headband and your sleep numbers. On top of the unit are buttons for changing settings and on the back is a small dock for the headband.

When wearing the headband, there is no denying that it’ll take a little getting used to – during my first night I was very well aware that it was on my head. But by the second and third nights I barely noticed it. The headband makes electrical contact with your forehead, and its sensors detect how well (or poorly) you sleep.

The alarm feature in the unit is fantastic – it can wake you exactly when you want it to, or it can wake you within a “window” when it feels you won’t be too groggy.

The online sleep log

When you wake up the next morning, you place the headband in the docking base of the Zeo unit, and it transfers your sleep data. Alternatively, you can enable wireless transfers – this constantly uploads your sleep data to the unit, allowing you to keep a close eye on it. This is handy if you regularly wake up in the middle of the night. Of course, you’ll still need to dock the headband to charge it.

Once the data has been loaded into the Zeo bedside unit, you can remove the SD memory card to upload your sleep data. The myZeo personal sleep coach is an extremely well built online sleep analyzer that keeps track of your sleep, and acts as your coaching hub.

The heart of your sleep report is your “ZQ” – this is a number between 0 and 120, calculated by Zeo to determine the quality of your sleep. The number is calculated based off how much sleep you got, your restorative sleep and whether your sleep was disrupted. In addition to your ZQ, your myZeo pages also report your “morning feel” – based on how well you slept, and when you woke up.

This is an hour-by-hour overview of how well I slept – you can see exactly when I fell asleep, how long it took me to fall asleep, and when I was in deep sleep, light sleep or REM sleep.

This information is great for two reasons – first of all, it is just plain fun to look back at your sleep, and get a very accurate overview of how you spent your night. Secondly, it gives you a great way to start work on getting a better night sleep. Combined with the coaching tools provided by Zeo, you really can take a close look at why your sleep

Zeo for travel?

Zeo is not necessarily designed to be travel friendly, but the alarm clock is not too bulky to carry on the road. Its included power supply works on 100V-240V, so it’ll be happy on any outlet you can find, no matter where in the world.

Sleep and travel normally don’t go to well together, but with the tools inside Zeo, you may be able to pinpoint why sleep is an issue when you travel, and adjust your routine. In addition to this, Zeo may be able to help snap you out of nasty jet lag symptoms.

Final thoughts

The Zeo system is an amazing piece of technology – being able to wake up in the morning, and see exactly how you slept is just plain cool. The system retails for $249, which includes the Zeo unit, headband, SD memory card and reader, as well as access to the myZeo site. For $349, you get the same package, along with lifetime sleep coaching, an extended warranty and replacement sensors for the headband. The unit comes with a 30 day money back guarantee.

If you have problems with your sleep, or if you’d just like to keep a closer eye on your sleep performance, I can highly recommend Zeo. Taking Zeo on the road can help you pick the best time to fall asleep, or when to wake up – this can greatly speed up getting used to a new time zone, or to fight off jet lag.

Product page: Zeo Personal Sleep Coach

Before you go, be sure to check out Gadling’s Travel Talk TV, in which the guys visit the Monterey Aquarium, interview the pilot who filmed his entire flight from the nose of his 747, and offer up international dating tips!