It’s reported that more than a third of people worldwide suffer from some kind of sleep disorder. X-trodes, an Israeli startup, might have found a way to diagnose them early.
There are around 70 registered sleep disorders, and diagnosing some of them is quite a complex process. First, it requires patients to suspect a problem that needs medical attention and then go to a clinic for a sleep study that takes several hours or an entire night.
X-trodes designed a sleep tracker that is equipped with a bunch of tiny sensors. However, this is not your standard app sleep tracker — it’s a high-tech bandaid that sticks to your skin and monitors your body while you sleep.
These flexible electrodes pick up on your body’s electrical activity, brain waves, and eye movements, sending these complex data to a smart device. Basically, it’s a sleep study conducted in the comfort of your bedroom, and you’re free to sleep in any position you like.
However, the device doesn’t diagnose you. Instead, the software analyzes the data and forms a report you can take to a medical professional to look into in order to give a proper diagnosis.
The company hopes to start manufacturing and selling the device to sleep clinics by 2023. They raised the funding last year, and the only thing they’re waiting for now is the official approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.
