Withings Sleep Now Tracks Breathing Disturbances, Full Sleep Apnea Detection Coming Later This Year

Connected health company Withings today announced new features coming to its sleep sensor mat, Withings Sleep, which will help track and provide detailed information about breathing disturbances during the night. This feature is available to all Withings Sleep owners today, and is the first step towards more advanced sleep apnea detection, which is coming later in 2019.

Withings says that a breathing disturbance can be any sign of troubled breathing that happens at night, which can be fairly common but goes unnoticed by most people. While these disturbances can be harmless, when they happen more frequent and become more intense, they have the chance to impair sleep quality and act as a sign of a chronic illness such as sleep apnea.

With breathing disturbances tracking on Withings Sleep, users will be able to identify early warning signs of these issues. Withings Sleep itself is a slim mat that you place under the mattress to track sleep cycles, heart rate, snoring, and more. The new feature monitors all of these statistics to track the intensity of breathing disturbances.

Each disturbance is then rated in the Health Mate app, from low to high, while providing monthly charts to see how your progression has been. The app also provides educational content so you can learn how these disturbances impact sleep, blood pressure, fitness, and weight, and seek proper medical care if needed.

Withings notes that these features are the "first step" towards launching a full sleep apnea detection update on Withings Sleep, planned for the end of 2019 and dependent upon FDA and CE clearances. According to Withings, the Withings Sleep is the first device to offer breathing disturbances detection on a non-intrusive in-home sleep tracking system.

“Despite its prevalence and serious consequences, sleep apnea goes largely undetected as current tests are confined to the clinical and sleep lab environment,” says Eric Carreel, President of Withings. “By allowing people to track the intensity of breathing disturbances, we are helping them identify warning signs early. This announcement is very important as it furthers our mission to bring medical grade analytics into the home and is the first step towards the medical certification of sleep apnea detection which we aim for by the end of this year.”

Withings Sleep is a direct competitor to the Apple-owned Beddit sleep monitor system, which is a flexible strip placed under a sheet on top of a mattress that tracks sleep time, heart rate, respiration, temperature, movement, and more.

Those with the Withings Sleep can update their device with breathing disturbances tracking starting today, through the Health Mate iOS app. Withings sells the Withings Sleep for $99.95 on its website and on Amazon.