The pajamas you wear when you sleep may soon see how well you sleep.
Theresa Andrew of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and her colleagues have developed a cotton pajamas shirt with sensors for monitoring breathing, heartbeat and movement.
This shirt can be used to monitor the quality of sleep of the wearer, such as the amount of fast eye movement sleep they get, which is considered important for consolidating memory, or if they have breathing problems at night.
The lining of the shirt is sewn with five light sensors.
The four sensors detect constant pressure, just like the body pressing on the bed.
The fifth is located above the chest, sensing rapid pressure changes, providing information about heart rate and breathing.
The sensor is connected by a wire made of thin silver coated threads.
"They are sewn on the seams of the shirt, so you can't see them," Andrew said . ".
The shirt is all machine. washable.
The signal collected from five patches is sent to a small board that looks and functions like a normal pajamas button.
The button has a built-in
The Bluetooth transmitter wirelessly sends data to the computer for analysis.
The pajamas shirt is still in its early stages-a night of testing on only 8 people, and the team is still making sure that the sensors are accurate for a variety of body shapes and heights.
Andrew says the shirt can't be used to diagnose medical problems yet, but the ultimate goal is to replace
Based on the sleep study, participants were connected by various machines overnight.
Instead, they can simply put on their pajamas.
The team is still in the process of ensuring that the sensors are accurate to a variety of body types.
So far, they have tested the shirt on 35 people.
They are now working on a complete set of pajamas, including built-in pants
In the pressure detector, the pressure on the back can be felt.
The team presented the work at a meeting of the American Chemical Society this week.