It can be difficult to track sleep disorders at home. However, Fitbit , a leader in wearable detection devices now has their eyes set on creating a device for this exact purpose. As the craze of monitoring your fitness habits starts to wane, this change in direction could benefit millions.

Mark Levy DDS and his team have been treating sleep disorders for years. More than anyone, they understand the importance of being able to track sleep disorders in order to determine the best line of treatment. This home device may quickly become the newest, greatest trend in managing your sleep disorder.

A Device to Track Sleep Disorders

Fitbit is known for helping users track their steps, heart rate, and sleeping patterns. However, a stock price decrease of sixty-two percent has the company refocusing their attention. They’re now taking an in depth look at the medical sector.

The company is working on creating tools to help diagnose and track sleep disorders. This is groundbreaking for the more than eighteen million people suffering from OSA. Fitbit told CNBC:

Sleep apnea is characterized by pauses in breathing and shallow breath and comes with an increased risk of heart failure, obesity, and strokes. One of the biggest concerns is that a lot of people don’t realize they have it.

“We’d perform a useful public service by alerting users to the fact that they have a problem,” said Conor Heneghan, Fitbit’s lead research scientist, in an interview. Heneghan works on Fitbit’s research and development team, which is focused on testing out new biomedical sensors and exploring potential applications.

The market for detecting and tracking sleep disorders is expected to increase drastically by the year 2021. Revenue increases are largely due to the new information coming out about OSA and other sleep disorders. We’re learning how much of an impact they have on our overall health. Patients are looking for new, convenient ways to determine if they have a sleep disorder and its severity. Fitbit’s team is using new and existing technology to accomplish this:

More specifically, Heneghan’s team is looking into using optical technologies that shine a light into the skin. Blood that is highly oxygenated is red, but gets bluer with less oxygen. The technology tracks dips in oxygen levels during the night, a possible indicator of sleep apnea.

“We’re leveraging the fact that Fitbit has experience in optical electronics and making them small and power efficient,” said Heneghan.

The Ability to Track Sleep Disorders is the Tip of the Iceberg

This type of technology is helping track a number of other health issues as well. Apple is currently working on a non-invasive way to track blood glucose. Jawbone is also making the transition from consumer trackers to medical products. These changes will benefit the millions of people across the United States suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and sleep disorders. As technology improves and allows these devices to both collect and interpret the important medical information, they continue to become more useful. The biggest challenge these companies face right now is achieving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because this takes time and resources.

“Sleep apnea is a huge market and a target that has very clear definitions, relative to other diseases,” said Roy Raymann, vice president of sleep science at SleepScore Labs, and the former sleep expert on Apple’s health team.

Fitbit is working hand in hand with sleep labs to effectively study how their new prototypes are performing in the detection and tracking of sleep disorders. Heneghan is hopeful that the new device will be on the market within the year if tests show it performs accurately. However, they still aren’t sure of how effective the tool needs to be in order to surpass the FDA regulations in other countries.

Overall, there is a lot of promise behind Fitbit’s new sleep disorder detection and tracking device. They hope that the device will encourage users to seek out treatment for their sleep disorder. It also will be a good tool to understand how well different treatments work for different people.

Using Information Track Sleep Disorders and Understand Treatments

Many of the individuals suffering from OSA use CPAP therapy as their primary form of treatment. However, this specific treatment option has a considerably low compliance rate. People who are offered CPAP therapy as a treatment don’t typically follow their treatment plan. This means they aren’t getting the treatment they need.

Having something that can track sleep disorders in your own home may encourage these patients to follow their treatment plan. If not, then hopefully they’ll be encouraged to seek different treatment options. The device will then be able to tell the patient how effective the other treatment options are. The ultimate goal is to help everyone who suffers from sleep disorders such as OSA find a treatment plan that not only works for them but that they are willing to follow.

The only questions that remain are if the medical community will accept the data collected by this device in lieu of traditional methods. Traditionally, patients were required to spend one or more nights at a sleep center under careful evaluation. Unfortunately, this also requires many sensors to be attached at various points of the body, which can make sleep difficult. The ability to use a small device in the comfort of your own home is much more convenient. This technology may even result in the diagnosis of more patients who were weary of undergoing the sleep center evaluation.

Treating Sleep Disorders with Oral Appliances

Mark Levy DDS and the rest of his professional staff are standing by to help any and all patients suffering from sleep disorders. Many OSA patients are finding that specially designed oral appliances by dentists such as Dr. Levy are a far better treatment option for themselves. If you’re curious about how an oral appliance can treat your sleep disorder, please, set up a consultation today. We’d be happy to evaluate your case and provide you with an honest opinion regarding alternative treatment options.

Call Mark Levy DDS at (614) 777-7350 for more information about new technology to track sleep disorders.