It's Sleep Awareness Week, an apt time to give proper rest its due. Sleep is often overlooked as a factor contributing to health and well-being. In fact, getting regular exercise and watching your diet is only part of the fitness puzzle. That's where the Fitbit device comes in handy. It' records and analyzes sleep quality plus tracks overall physical activity throughout the day.
The $99 Fitbit is essentially a tiny pedometer that uses a highly ergonomic clip-style design. Like other pedometers, its sensor measures steps taken. The device is powered by a rechargeable battery and sports a monochrome LED display.
How does Fitbit analyze your sleep? It comes with a soft armband users wear at night that keeps the Fitbit in place on your body. Once in sleep record mode, the gadget logs nighttime movement to assess the quality of your shut-eye.
Syncing the Fitbit with Macs and PCs is easily done via wireless connection to a base station. From there, analysis is provided via the Fitbit website that breaks down sleep duration and determines overall efficiency. If you toss and turn all night but don't recall, Fitbit will notice.
The site also gives feedback for activity level and even calories eaten and burned based on meal info entered.
Fitbit doesn't have a smartphone app yet (the company plans to release one soon), but for now there is a mobile site alongside a full version at FitBit.com.
