SleepLoop

Healthy Sleeping made in Switzerland

About

SleepLoop is a wearable sleep monitoring and stimulation system developed at the Universities of Zurich (ETH Zurich and University of Zurich). The aim of SleepLoop is to enhance health by using mobile technologies that improve and deepen sleep in various stages of life from childhood to old age.  SleepLoop enables large scale research outside of the lab and will support all that need deeper and a more regenerative sleep.  
SleepLoop has been awarded the Hochschulmedizin Zurich Flagship Award in 2017.

Why healthy sleep is important

Sleep is essential for life, yet, we do not sleep enough! A multitude of conditions have been linked to insufficient sleep. Reduced vigilance and decreased performance levels are the most prominent. In addition, chronic lack of sleep has been associated with metabolic diseases such as diabetes as well as brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

Today, it is fairly easy to observe and/or diagnose insufficient sleep. However, only one third of chronically sleep restricted humans can comply with longer sleep times. High work burden, a multitude of social commitments, the use of electronic devices and other factors prevent most people from complying with healthy sleep habits. Medication to promote and deepen sleep is ineffective due to tolerability and dependence issues. To date, there was no efficient strategy for long-term improvement of sleep.

How does SleepLoop work?

At night, a wearable device records brain activity. During deep sleep where neurons are synchronized, a stimulus is provided in form of an auditive tone. By playing this tone at the right moment in time, synchronization of neurons can be enhanced and the person can sleep even deeper, which ultimately leads to a higher quality of sleep.

How will people benefit from SleepLoop?

SleepLoop is used to investigate a multitude of aspects such as

  • General brain function
  • Sleeping disorders
  • Depression
  • Epilepsy
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Behavioral economics
  • Parkinson's disease

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Consortia

The SleepLoop consortia consists of an interdisciplinary team from 16 research group located in one of the Universities of Zurich.

Funding
The Hochschulmedizin Zurich SleepLoop Flagship project is funded through independent funding of each research group participating in the consortia, as well as Flagship seed funding by Hochschulmedizin Zurich. The very first prototypes and  research projects on SleepLoop were made possible thanks to a generous private donation administered through the Schweizerische Hirnstiftung. 
Individuals can continue supporting our research through various ways offered by the ETH Foundation and the USZ Foundation.

Contact / Info

2017 ETH Zurich & University of Zurich