Garmin has launched a new device that people wear only when they sleep.
The Index Sleep Monitor is a band that fits around the upper arm and tracks how much rest its owner is getting.
The company said that it was born out of an increased focus on understanding how long and how well we sleep, and is aimed at giving people the data required to understand that.
Many of Garmin’s devices already track their wearers’ sleep. Its smartwatches can be worn in bed to receive a detailed rundown of the quality and quantity of how a person slept, for instance.
But Garmin said that the new device would offer both more detailed data as well as providing an option for people who don’t want to wear their watch at night.
It will sync with the Garmin app and its compatible watches, so that someone who wears both the sleep monitor and a watch will have their information shared between the two, Garmin said.
When people sleep with the device, they will receive an overall sleep score that indicates out of 100 how well they slept. That will bring together information such as the duration, stress and stages of sleep.
But it will also track more detailed information: the variability of their heartrate and breathing, the amount of oxygen in their blood, how often they breathe and the temperature of their skin.
It also includes a “smart wake alarm” that will try and find the most refreshing time to wake up and then bring them round with a soft vibration.
The band appears set to take on Whoop, which makes its own band intended to be worn all day and which offers detailed recovery data based on how its owner slept, among other things. Whoop has faced backlash in recent weeks after it unveiled a new band alongside new payment terms that users felt were unfair.
The launch comes just a day after Polar, best known for its heart monitors, announced that it would be launching a new “screen-free wrist device”. That too appears aimed in part at Whoop, with the company saying in its announcement that it would be a “subscription-free alternative to other health bands and fitness trackers on the market”.
That device is being made in response to requests for consumers for a device that can track them “without the distractions of screens or the pressure of constant notifications”, Polar’s chief executive said in a statement.
