At first, I gave my prototypes to a handful of friends for their feedback. They responded with things like "it seems to work" or "I think it might be helping." Although it was great to get positive feedback, I wanted results that were a little more scientific. So I came up with a study of sorts.

Using this ad, I found several people on the reddit /r/insomnia community willing to try the device and provide me data on their sleep via a daily survey and seep tracking smartphone app. I had the users record data for 3 weeks without the Sleep Sensei, and I then sent the users the sleep coach device and had them record data for 3 weeks of sleep using the device.

I ended up sending out 20 Sleep Senseis, and I got decent data from 5 users. Here is a plot of the average time it took these users to fall asleep before and after using the Sleep Sensei:

Here is some of the feedback I got from the users:

“I think the quality of sleep has been improving, and I think that’s the Sleep Sensei. When I start having issues again I pull it out and it does help” – Alice S, TX

“I was really impressed with the [Sleep Sensei]- it cut the amount of time it took me to fall asleep by about half … I basically don’t have insomnia anymore and it feels that way” Marijke S, MA

“The [Sleep Sensei] allows me to fall asleep in at least under 30 minutes, sometimes even as few as 7 minutes, which is great for me! I would definitely recommend this device to anyone who is on the search for something new to help them fall asleep, someone who perhaps has tried every other sleep aid without finding anything that truly helps yet. The Sleep Sensei is awesome!” – Kate B, GA

“I’ve noticed a HUGE decrease in how long it takes me to fall asleep which has been wonderful! I really like the machine. It’s easy to use and works well.” – Kelly P, LA

Of course, this was not a clinical trial or very hard-sciency, but it gave me the confidence to try to make the Sleep Sensei into a real product by launching a Kickstarter! More on that part of the journey in the next log post.