StimScience, the neuroscience-based sleep company, has appointed Tim Rosa, a former Fitbit executive, as its new CEO.

Rosa’s appointment marks a step forward for the company’s flagship product line, Somnee, a personalized, smart sleep headband that employs non-invasive, closed-loop neurostimulation to enhance sleep quality and duration.

“With StimScience, the team has pioneered and delivered lab-grade technology in a sleep headband that accurately maps and measures brainwave patterns and applies personalized tES neurostimulation that nudges the brain to sleep,” Rosa said.

With a proven track record in launching world-class brands and products, Rosa is aiming to guide StimScience through its next phase of growth and innovation. As the former chief marketing officer of Fitbit, he scaled the company from a small startup into a household name, with over 140 million devices sold in 100-plus countries. 

“There’s a lot of exciting clinical research and momentum validating the importance of sleep fitness and its impact on cognitive performance, athletic performance, mental health, general health, and even weight loss,” Rosa said. “Wearables have done a great job educating consumers on their general sleep stage trends and insights. The challenge for most consumer-grade devices has been creating a closed-loop, lab-grade diagnostic in combination with a personalized therapeutic that adapts with the user and ultimately improves sleep onset, duration, and/or depth.”

Rosa added that he’s “excited to partner with wearables, sleep products and services, and healthcare to close that loop and improve outcomes for 100 million consumers.”

The Future of Sleep Science?

As the first company to approach sleep improvement through personalized closed-loop neurostimulation, StimScience claims its device is proven to cut the time it takes to fall asleep in half and improve sleep quality with only 15 minutes of use. It also claims Somnee is four times as effective as a melatonin pill, twice as effective as cognitive behavior therapy, and one-and-a-half as effective as Ambien in improving sleep efficiency and duration. Somnee markets itself as the “future of sleep.”

Rosa’s recruitment was backed by Dr. Matthew Walker, PhD, the author of New York Times bestseller “Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams,” and chief sleep advisor at Somnee.

“Sleep is increasingly recognized as one of the most fundamental habits not only for our day-to-day functioning, concentration, mood, and body health, but also for continued brain and body wellness as we age,” Walker noted.

Venture capital firm Khosla Ventures also supports StimScience.

“We backed Somnee because the team had every component needed to bring forward clinical-grade consumer technology to change the face of sleep. Since our initial investment, this thesis is proving itself out,” said Vinod Khosla, a tech investor and founder of Khosla Ventures. “With Tim at the helm, Somnee can now scale to bridge a foundational health gap and cement itself as an iconic brand that carries weight with consumers, the medical and sleep health communities.” 

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OURA has unveiled several new sleep tracking features and app optimizations for its ring so users can deepen their understanding of their sleep cycles.

The ability to discover chronotype, which reveals whether an OURA owner is a morning or night person, or perhaps falls somewhere in the middle, is the highlight of OURA’s new sleep-tracking features.

According to the wearable technology company, chronotype is heavily influenced by genetics and reflects an individual’s circadian rhythm, which regulates alertness, digestion, and hormone release.

With chronotype information, OURA wearers can now understand why they may still be dragging their feet in the morning despite going to bed at a reasonable hour the night before. 

The OURA ring determines chronotype by tracking sleep, activity, and body temperature data from the past 90 days. OURA ring owners are encouraged to consistently wear the ring during the night and daytime to get an accurate chronotype reading.

There are six chronotypes, according to the wearable tech company:

• Early morning type: Less than 10% of people are early morning types. They are awake and alert in the early mornings and get a lot done in the wee early hours.
• Morning type: Morning people enjoy getting up early and going to bed early and experience alertness and energy when the sun comes up.
• Late morning type: These people may be productive in the mornings and enjoy going to bed early but can withstand an occasional late night. 
• Early evening type: Those who are early evening types enjoy some late evenings but don’t mind going to bed early. They can keep to social schedules easily, but they don’t particularly love early mornings.
• Evening type: These types love late nights and become more awake and alert as others start to wind down for the evening.
• Late evening type: Late evening people need their sleep in the mornings and won’t feel fully awake until the afternoon on some days. Less than 10% of people are late evening types, says OURA.

Knowing your chronotype has numerous benefits and can impact energy levels, sleep, and well-being. Matthew Walker, Ph.D., author of “Why We Sleep” and an Oura advisor, says being armed with personalized sleep knowledge will also reveal key information. 

For example, evening types need an additional hour in the morning before they release hormones that help them manage stress and emotions. These night owls shouldn’t be expected to be alert and cheery in the morning, says Walker. Perhaps most importantly, Walker says evening types may discover that they are chronically sleep deprived and should consider finding a schedule that allows them to sleep more in sync with their natural preferences.

Three other new features that OURA released are body clock, sleep regularity, and sleep score.

The body clock works with chronotype and helps users understand their optimal sleep schedule. The clock can also provide advice on how to adjust sleep timing. Sleep regularity will identify disruptions or irregularities that impact sleep, and sleep score allows irregular sleepers and shift workers to better understand how to make their sleep schedule work best for them.

According to the CDC, a third of US adults typically get less sleep than is advised. A bad sleep cycle can have disastrous consequences, and chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and depression have been linked to lack of sleep.

To promote its latest features, the wearable tech company recently took over Times Square with a dazzling digital display to encourage the city that never sleeps to rethink the importance of sleep.

Late last year, the Finland-based OURA introduced a corporate wellness employer program, OURA For Business. The brand has also collaborated with luxury fashion house Gucci to release a special $950 wearable.

The post Grumpy in the Morning? OURA Says You’re Not to Blame as It Launches Sleep Tracking Features for its Ring appeared first on Athletech News.