Review: GoWear fit armband (sleep efficiency?)

I thought I'd throw up a quick review on this site of the "GoWear fit" armband (aka BodyBugg) from BodyMedia. The reason I mention it here is because they are advertising that it will measure "sleep efficiency", so I thought it might be of interest to some of the data hounds.

This type of device is used on the weight-loss show "The Biggest Loser" and is being offered by more and more health clubs and trainers.

What is the GoWear fit armband?
It's an armband sensor package containing: a six-axis accelerometer (measures 3d movement), galvanic skin response (conductivity of skin, which increases when you sweat), thermometer (measures body temp over time).

It is being touted as a "calorie and lifestyle management tool" that continuously reports: calories burned, activity level, and steps taken. The reason I mention it here at CPAPTALK, is that it also reports "sleep efficiency".

I'm not exactly sure how it determines "sleep efficiency", but I've been playing with it a couple days now. The accelerometer can apparently tell when you are prone and not moving. It may simply be giving you the percentage of time per sleep period that you are "prone and still", but I'm not sure if they use any of the temp data or galvanic response in their algorithms too. The online software does seem to accurately graph when I toss and turn or get up to go to the bathroom.

OK, on to the review.

There are 4 pieces to the puzzle.
1) The armband.
2) The optional display.
3) The software you install on your comp.
4) The online Java software.

1) The armband has a nice fit and finish. It powers on automatically after it's been on your arm for a couple minutes. It has a tiny power LED and memory LED system to let you know various power and memory levels. It chirps a series of tunes to let you know it is powering up/down/downloading/etc.

The elastic velcro strap is pretty tight on a large-boned obese man, but I can live with it at its loosest setting. It's very lightweight and only has one button (for syncing to the optional display device).

You pop the device out of its armband frame to expose a tiny port that allows you to hook it up to your computer for downloading data.

2) The armband module has no display. Zip. Zero. Which is nice for making it lightweight, but can be disconcerting for people who want to keep a close eye on their numbers throughout the day. So there is an optional wireless display device about the size of a watch that will sync up and provide constant updates in "steps taken" like a pedometer, time spent at "moderate" or "vigorous" activity levels, calories burned, and also time (in case you want to wear it in place of your watch). The numbers displayed can be "Today" so far, yesterday's totals, or there's also a "trip" function.

Once again, the display's watch-strap is barely large enough for a big-boned obese man, but it also can pop out of the watch and be affixed to an included clip or worn on a loop. It also has a light. Like the armband, the fit and finish is good.

3) One confusing moment during the set-up is that you download and install software onto your computer. However, this software does not have an executable program. It basically appears to just handle the data-dump from the armband. To actually analyze the data, you need to run the online subscription-based Java application. The subscription is $6.95, $9.95, or $12.95/mo depending on committment. But you can get 1-year bundled with the equipment.

The software installed fine on my Vista 64-bit and supposedly will run on Mac and other current systems.

4) The online Java app is pretty polished. You enter a variety of physical data and goals into the app: weight, height, age, handedness, hours you usually sleep, fitness/weight-loss goals, et cetera. It spits out how many calories it thinks you should eat, and then tells you how many it thinks you should burn to meet your goals. There are graphs for calories burned, physical activity, steps, and sleep duration. It also has a calorie logging system for calorie counting. You can print or extract various pdf reports.

I sort of suck at counting calories, so one nice thing about wearing this device is that it will guesstimate how many calories you are eating by judging how many calories you burn and what your weight does. You can enter and track your weight and you waist measurement.

Of particular interest to this group is the "sleep efficiency" graph. It will show a daily graph or how long your are prone, and whether it thinks you were sleeping or not. Mine seems to pretty accurately show how I wake up and fiddle with my mask or go to the bathroom a few times per night. But I haven't challenged the data or tried to sync it with a camcorder.

So...that's the product. On their website, you can bundle the armband, display, and twelve months subscription for $250. I'll let people make up their own mind if they think that price is high or low.

I've worn it three days now, and I've found it enlightening. During the last few years sleep apnea had me absolutely exhausted all the time. So my physical activity levels dwindled to...nothing. I gained ~145 pounds in the last several years. Now that I have sleep apnea diagnosed and treated, I need to pull out of the obesity abyss I have fallen into.

This device has really highlighted how very few calories I burn. It hadn't really sunk in how inactive I had become. I never walk, when I can stand. I never stand, when I can lean. I never lean, when I can sit down. Et cetera. I had subconsciously arranged my life to have the absolute minimum of movement I could get away with. The armband (with the optional display on my wrist) serves as a constant reminder to get up and walk around. I think it's going to be a useful monitoring and motivational tool for me.

Anyway, there's my opinion. Check out http://www.gowearfit.com for more info. If people are interested I'll post some reports and/or screen shots over the next couple days.

Here are some screen shots, in case anyone is interested:

1) Calories burned:



2) Steps:



3) Activity:



4) Sleep efficiency:

This shows me "lying down" in my recliner watching TV on Sunday (but not sleeping). It also shows me tossing and turning a bit around 2:30am and 5:30am and getting up to go to the bathroom shortly after 3am. The "79%" sleep efficiency seems sorta bogus, since it's counting my reclining in front of the TV as attempted sleep. There's probably a way to just show the "sleep hours", but I haven't played with it much.



Here are the other couple nights I've worn it.






Again, I'm not sure how really helpful this is to us hoseheads. But I figure people might be interested about this product's "sleep efficiency" measurements, so now you have an example. Now, I better get off my computer, because I have a lot more "steps" and "mins of activity" to go before I've met today's goals... (sigh).