Fitbit and Garmin shouldn't sleep on Amazon Alexa-powered sleep apnea tracker

Amazon has a radar-equipped tracker in the pipeline and it looks set to be a brilliant tool in the fight against sleep apnea.

Harnessing its Alexa technology, it will monitor and track sleep to indicate the presence of apnea, which can go unnoticed without a bedside partner. 

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Amazon’s latest foray into health tracking looks to offer comfort to those who worry about the common sleeping issue. According to a new report by Business Insider, the tech giant’s development of the device has been slowly chugging away behind the scenes. Allegedly, it’s a small device – no bigger than the palm of your hand – that rests on the bedside cabinet and uses millimeter-wave radar to detect breathing, spotting rhythmic anomalies that are characteristic of sleep apnea’s ‘stop and start’ pattern.

Fittingly codenamed ‘Brahms’, after Brahms’ Wiegenlied – meaning ‘lullaby’ in German – Amazon is cagey on details at the moment, but Business Insider says that it is a standalone “hexagonal pad connected to a metal wire base”. Strangely shaped tech isn’t just the preserve of Amazon, if you have a design penchant for interesting shapes, check out our smart thermostat guide, which exhibits all of the weird and wonderful designs in modern heating control.

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Sleep is crucial to health and apnea certainly isn’t much fun for sufferers. T3 has road-tested the best mattresses to aid in sleep recovery; not every night is the same, and it can help to have a mattress to support yourself in all the right places. A surge in health tracking and hardware is reflective of increased awareness during the pandemic. We advise picking up one of our best smart speakers to streamline all your health gizmos; overall, we think Alexa offers a bit more flexibility in this department, so picking the Amazon Echo (4th Gen) is a good place to start.

Amazon is really clued-up in the health department having released the Halo fitness tracker, as well; other innovations are grappling with gut health, courtesy of the AI-powered Atlas Health app. Here at T3, we absolutely love tech that helps people stay on top of their health: Atlas’ app will signal any issues with microbiome, while suggesting dietary improvements that can reduce illnesses. It’s a brilliantly simple way to digest complicated health metrics.

Brahms is the tip of an ever-growing production iceberg for Amazon; it’s almost impossible to find something the company isn’t involved in at the moment, and much of this is underscored by its brilliant Echo range that delivers Alexa to your front room at palatable price points. T3 has rounded up the very best Amazon Echo models, so you can pick one to suit you.

Big steps forward are being made in health and we think 2021 will see mass adoption of health tracking, as the public's awareness of well-being is at an all time high.  

Source: Business Insider