As our Kickstarter campaign progresses, we are receiving a lot of great feedback and questions from our backers. One topic that keeps coming up is if Emvio can help users sleep better, so this week, we’re going to tell you our team’s thoughts.

It’s been pointed out that Emvio can be used to track the autonomic nervous system during sleep. As you know, many activity trackers feature sleep tracking and smart alarm clocks as well, and they mostly use the accelerometers to track bodily movement during sleep. 

There are two types of sleep: REM and NREM. REM stands for “Rapid Eye Movement” and the “N” stands for “Non.” It is in REM sleep that people dream, and also REM sleep is more important for recovery, information processing, and exchanges between the conscious and unconscious minds. The body does not move, while the brain’s activity is similar to being awake, and activity trackers can be used to detect this type of sleep.

Emvio can help you dig deeper into your sleep data, however, since its optical sensor would pick up any stressful or emotional dream experiences you may have. Here’s an example graph of the data Emvio might provide during a sleep cycle: 

• You can see where this subject falls asleep, at the point where stress drops dramatically. 
• The REM phases are clearly visible as stress levels go up and down, and it may be because dreams are of differing intensity.
• These changes in the graph better reflect how much information you are processing while you sleep.

In short, we’re really excited about Emvio’s possibilities as a sleep aid. It could give users are more objective picture of their sleep cycles, based on the degree of autonomic nervous system activity. Unlike other activity trackers, Emvio can give you more data on your NREM and REM phases. And most interestingly, you may be able to see the “strength” of your dreams over time. 

To learn more about yourself and your sleep, check out our Kickstarter campaign and back us today!