It’s hard to believe that MedGadget covered the Zeo Personal Sleep Coach as if it were a real medical device.
At first the technology looks intriguing:
- Softwave™ Sensor Technology (wireless)
- Bedside Display
- Web and Database Technology
So far so good. Then you get:
- Personalized Sleep Coaching Program
- SmartWake™ Alarm (optional)
RED FLAG!!!
and the Zeo 7 Steps to Sleep Fitness are:
- Evaluate your Sleep Fitness
- Relax your way to sleep
- Build your bedroom sanctuary
- Optimize your sleep schedule
- Adopt the Power Down Hour™
- Eat and drink smart for sleep
- Harmonize with your housemates
All for only $399 (with free shipping).
Now the fine print:
Zeo Personal Sleep Coach is neither a medical device nor a medical program and is not intended for the diagnosis or treatment of sleep disorders. If you suspect that you may have a sleep disorder, consult your physician.
Is this for real? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised — No FDA approval.
I can believe that these sensors are capable of collecting EEG that could be used for sleep staging. But even that hasn’t been proven true. An abstract accepted for presentation is interesting but is not validation. The technology here is the confidence part of the trick.
They claim to use the sleep histogram (personal sleep score or “ZQ”) along with on-line analysis as a metric for determining if any of the 7 “Sleep Fitness” steps are actually helping. Based on normal ranges of sleep stage percentages during the night these metrics may well tell you if a person slept “normally”, but can ZQ changes really be attributed to some lifestyle alteration? Where’s the clinical validation for this?
Also, the technology is supposed to:
find what could be a “natural awakening point” – when it could be a little easier to get out of bed in the morning.
It could, huh?
Anyone that would shell out money for a product like this probably has a real sleep disorder and should see a medical professional for evaluation.
Most sleep disorders are caused by apnea events anyway. A real ambulatory polysomnography (PSG) system (e.g. the Somté) includes EEG, EOG, and a full complement of breathing parameters (airflows, pressures, and SaO2).
To me anyway, the Zeo device and program will help very few people and appears to be another direct-to-consumer rip-off.
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By the way, if you read their website’s “30-Day Return Policy,” it clearly says:
“Returned merchandise must include all original accessories, literature, documentation and packaging in the same saleable condition in which it was received by you.”
OR THEY CHARGE YOU 30% for a “RESTOCKING FEE” — $90, PLUS you have to pay return shipping!
My husband, who loves buying all of these ridiculous gadgets without reading the fine print, ordered one of these items. There’s a lot of small compartments that come in sealed blister-packages that would render it NOT in the “same saleable condition.”
This is a scam. I don’t care what the New York Times says about it. It’s a scam.
Whoops, I meant “components,” not “compartments.”
Thanks for this write-up!
Patsy, did your husband try it?? I’m not as concerned about the return policy as whether it works as claimed.
Here is my conversation with a customer support conversation regarding this issue. This is not a scam. You’re assets are safe.
Corey(me):
But you’re saying that if I open up the product and take all of the contents out of the protective packaging I can still then return into the severed packaging and return it free of charge other than my own shipping fee?
Paul:
Yes.
If you dont believe me go to the the Zeo site and select the “live online chat support” and ask like I did.
It is not a scam. It probably only says that as a precaution. Think about brushing your teeth. Although it’s very good if you do you still have to go to the dentist 2 a year for a check up. Modern machines still don’t replace doctors.
Bob is an idiot. Lifestyle changes do affect sleep quality. That his been documented for years by people far smarter than Bob. Ask anyone with nightime GERD if sleeping on a different bed or eating at different time affects there sleep. The machine does not claim to diagnose a medical condition. So what is the problem. Bob does not provide one credible source that says the sleep staging does not work. He just makes the claim for the hell of it.
The device is clearly aimed at yuppies like me, not average consumer, so no need to decry the pricing…
I don’t sleep a lot so I used to make sleep tables, that with any luck would map sleep duration to easy awakening; however while there is quantifiable improvement in number of times you wake up refreshed as opposed to groggy from them it’s not nearly 100% successful (I am guessing it’s due to both inexact timing and difference in environment/time to fall asleep/caffeine/alcohol/etc), so I this thing helps me wake up better at that time by tracking in realtime that would be well worth it.
If not $249 it costs now is not THAT much money.
Bob, your POST is the scam (not really) but it sure is is opinionated.
1. What is the “Red Flag”? The Personalized Sleep Coaching Program and SmartWake™ Alarm (optional) or the Zeo 7 Steps to Sleep Fitness? What is “Red Flag” about ANY of them?
2. You seem to think Zeo’s not being approved by the FDA to treat sleep disorders is somehow evidence of this being a scam? How so? I can perfectly well imagine a device that records and displays someone’s sleep phases NOT being approved by the FDA as something “to treat sleep disorders”. The FDA is NOTORIOUS for ridiculously high requirements for something to be officially approved as a “treatment”.
3. You seem incredulous that a head-worn device is simply able to pick up brainwaves and detect what phase of sleep you’re in with reasonably accuracy. I don’t know. Based on what is already out there, that doesn’t seem like such a dubious proposition.
4. If you think you need “clinical validation” to determine whether lifestyle changes affect your sleep, I think you need to get yourSELF clinically validated (joke). Either that, or just do some basic research on sleep.
5. If you think the only people who will pay money for this device are those who suffer from sleep disorders then you don’t make as much money as many others do. Or maybe you just don’t value the feedback it gives as much as others do.
6. And re it just being a scam: Have you seen who is on their advisory board? http://www.myzeo.com/pages/48_about_us.cfm Among others,
Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD – Director, Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Daniel Aeschbach, PhD – Assistant Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School
John W. Winkelman, MD, PhD – Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
and Medical Director, Sleep Health Center of Brigham
and Women’s Hospital
Yes…you’re right…it MUST be a scam!
P.S. – And I have no connection to the Zeo company.