Sunday, March 16, 2025

Oh, zzzz! World Sleep Day - Withings Sleep Tracking Mat

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

If you missed World Sleep Day, on March 14th, 2025, a celebration dedicated to bringing awareness of the importance of sleep, organized jointly by the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM) and the World Sleep Federation (WSF), you might shoot for the World Sleep Congress. The biennial World Sleep Society meeting to be held in Singapore, on September 4-5, 2025, bringing together an international group of professionals and researchers, dedicated to the topic of sleep health.

In the interim, you might consider Withings Sleep Tracking Mat. A sleep monitoring device that you do not have to wear.

Measuring approximately 8x24x.19 inches, this powerful and ultra-thin mat slips horizontally at chest level under your mattress. The rectangular Withings Sleep Tracking Mat is USB wired. Once connected to an outlet, the mat synchs automatically to the free HealthMate Withings app (iOS or Android-compatible), equipped with proprietary learning algorithms designed by sleep professionals to analyze your sleep. Specifically, the Withings Sleep Tracking Mat measures: sleep cycles (light, deep, and rapid eye movement [REM]), heart rate, and breathing patterns, using a combination of pneumatic and microphone sensors, to give you real-time feedback on the quality of your sleep. The pneumatic (air-filled) sensors are designed to measure movement, heart rate, and breathing. The microphone sensors measure snoring and breathing sounds.

The app delivers a sleep quality score based on depth of sleep and interruptions. The app also delivers cardiovascular data, based on your average heart rate. Thus, the app also provides general feedback on such items as: how long it took for you to fall asleep, how long you sleep, how many times your sleep was interrupted, the regularity of your sleep patterns, and how much you snore. Data that might be aggregated per week and month, and exported to a professional sleep clinician to address suspected issues of sleep apnea (obstructions in breathing during sleep) or other concerns.

The Withings Sleep Tracking Mat is patent-pending in the United States*. Withings, a French company headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, has filed a US patent application US2022202360A1, titled Sleep Sensing and Monitoring Device, at the USPTO. The inventors on record are Nicolas Aimon, Thomas Bedetti, Paul Edouard, Pierre Bartet, Varoun Sanath Koumar Radja and Paul-Edouard Juan. The Assignee is Withings.

Below, the patent Figure 1, depicts a diagram perspective of the sensing device 9, according to the invention. Specifically, according to the patent specification, the sensing device 9, comprises a removable and washable strip of fabric 13, that encloses a pneumatic chamber 3, functioning as sensing means for detecting relevant parameters during a user’s sleep, and a housing 6 for the device’s electronic means 4. The sensing device 9 is stowable (folded or rolled). Once installed under the user’s mattress, the sensing device 9 is undetectable because its total thickness (TZ) measures 20 mm (10 to 20 mm when in use). The mat is rectangular, measuring approx. 200 mm in width (LY), and approx. 600 mm in length (LX). The pneumatic chamber 3 comprises interconnected chambers 30, forming comfortable inflated tubes. The device's electronic means 4 essentially comprise an electronic processor, adapted to communicate with a smartphone 5, as shown with the dotted arrow 45. The sensing device 9 is wired, using the connection cable 7

Below, an image of the sleep monitoring device with feedback screenshots (left to right) for:

  1. Respiratory health, showing mild to normal for the previous night’s sleep.
  2. A sleep quality score, showing awake, light, deep and REM sleep for a particular night.
  3. Sleep heart rate for a period of three months, including both a graph showing distribution in the normal range, and a measure of average bpm (beats per minute).

The abstract of the invention is also included below. 

The disclosure is directed to a sensing device, configured to be installed in a bedding, for monitoring a user's sleep, the device comprising: a sensing part, for acquiring/determining a value representative of an a force or pressure and/or a value representative of a variation of a force or pressure, a housing comprising at least a pressure transducer and an electronic processing unit, a microphone connected to the electronic processing unit, wherein the electronic processing unit is configured to process first and second electrical signals delivered respectively by the microphone and the pressure converter, wherein the electronic processing unit is either configured to deduce locally at least a breathing disturbance therefrom or configured to send data representative of the first and second electrical signals to a remote device. [US2022202360A1]
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* The European patent, EP3763290A1, also titled Sleep Sensing and Monitoring, was granted on Dec. 7th, 2019.   

References
Withings - Sleep analyzer
World Sleep Day (website) 
World Sleep Society (website)
World Sleep Congress (Sept. 5-10, 2025)

Saturday, March 8, 2025

International Women's Day 2025

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

International Women’s Day is observed on May 8th worldwide, both as a call for action and a celebration of women’s accomplishments. Below, 52 inspirational women’s quotes–one for each week of the year! The quotes were extracted from the International Women’s Day website, referenced below.  

Gloria Steinem

American Journalist & Social-political Activist 

“Don’t think about making women fit the world - think about making the world fit women.”


Ruth Bader Ginsburg

American Lawyer and Jurist

“As women achieve power, the barriers will fall. As society sees what women can do, as women see what women can do, there will be more women out there doing things, and we’ll all be better off for it.” 


Michelle Obama

American Attorney, Author & Former First Lady of the United States 

“There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.” 


Malala Yousafzai 

Activist

“I think realizing that you’re not alone, that you are standing with millions of your sisters around the world is vital.”


Coco Chanel

Fashion Designer & Businesswoman

“A girl should be two things: Who and what she wants.” 


Dolly Parton

Singer-songwriter & Musician

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” 


Judy Garland

Actress & Singer

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else."


Serena Williams

Tennis Champion 

"Every woman's success should be an inspiration to another. We're strongest when we cheer each other on."


Sheryl Sandberg

Technology Executive, Philanthropist & Writer

“We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.” 


Megan Rapinoe

Professional Soccer Player

"Every person has a responsibility to be a participant in this society and make it a better place for everybody, in whatever capacity they can."


Reese Witherspoon

Actress & Producer

"I encourage women to step up. Don't wait for somebody to ask you."


Ntozake Shange 

Playwright & Poet

"Where there is a woman, there is magic."


Elaine Welteroth 

Author, Journalist, Editor & Television Host

“Friends. Sisters. Mothers. Professors. When women affirm women, it unlocks our power. It gives us permission to shine brighter.” 


Viola Davis

Actress & Film Producer

"Do not live someone else's life and someone else's idea of what womanhood is. Womanhood is you."


Beyoncé

Singer, Songwriter & Businesswoman

"If everything was perfect, you would never learn, and you would never grow."


Audre Lorde

Writer, Professor, Philosopher, Poet & Civil Rights Activist

“I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” 


Rupi Kaur 

Poet, Illustrator, Photographer & Author

"What’s the greatest lesson a woman should learn? That since day one, she’s already had everything she needs within herself. It’s the world that convinced her she did not.” 


June Sarpong

Television Presenter & Executive

"Believe in yourself and be proud of who you are. Don't let anyone tell you differently. There is beauty in everyone and no one should stop you from growing into a confident and strong young person." 


Isabel Allende

Author

“I can promise you that women working together - linked, informed, and educated - can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” 


Beanie Feldstein

Actress

“Take the wisdoms of the women in this world and keep them at your side, always.” 


Alex Elle

Author, Wellness Educator & Podcast Host

"I am thankful for my struggle because, without it, I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength."


Stephanie Bennett-Henry

Poet

"Life is tough, my darling, but so are you."


Alaa Murabit

Physician

“I will always be the girl who believed she could make it to the moon, in a world that still debates whether girls should have an education and whether women should have reproductive rights.” 


G.D. Anderson

Writer & Founder of The Cova Project

"Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength."


Jameela Jamil

Actress & Activist 

“Do not ever sell yourself short.” 


Anna Quindlen 

Author & Journalist 

“After all those years as a woman hearing, ‘not thin enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough, not this enough, not that enough,’ almost overnight I woke up one morning and thought, ‘I am enough.’"


Maya Angelou

Memoirist, Poet & Civil Rights Activist

"I am grateful to be a woman. I must have done something great in another life."


Jane Goodall

Primatologist & Anthropologist

“One individual cannot possibly make a difference, alone. It is individual efforts, collectively, that makes a noticeable difference - all the difference in the world!” 


Laverne Cox

Actress & Activist 

“I’ve never been interested in being invisible and erased."


Lucille Ball

Actress

“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” 


Matilda Joslyn Gage

Writer & Activist 

“The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one-thousand generations back of them...Millions of women dead and gone are speaking through us today.” 


Swati Sharma

Singer

“I am a woman and I get to define what that means.” 


Arianna Huffington

Author, Syndicated Columnist & Businesswoman

"Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me."


Jane Fonda

Actress & Actor

“Feminism is not just about women; it’s about letting all people lead fuller lives.” 


Brené Brown

Professor, Author & Podcast host

“Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be; embrace who you are.” 


Emma Watson

Actress, Activist & Model 

“Girls should never be afraid to be smart.”


Beverly Sills

Operatic Soprano 

“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” 


Mindy Kaling

Actress, Screenwriter & Producer

"If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself."


Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill

Track & Field Athlete 

"The only one who can tell you 'you can't win' is you, and you don't have to listen."


Margaret Fuller

Journalist, Editor, Critic, Translator & Activist

“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.”


Marilyn Monroe

Actress & Model

"Sometimes things fall apart, so that better things can fall together."


George Eliot

Author

"It is never too late to be what you might have been."


Oprah Winfrey

Talk Show Host, Television Producer, Actress & Author

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” 


Angela Yee

Radio Personality

“I can encourage the women who are striving to get their footing in the world to keep pushing and to express themselves.” 


Blake Lively

Actress

"The most beautiful thing a woman can wear is confidence."


Carolina Herrera

Fashion Designer

"I don’t get my inspiration from books or a painting. I get it from the women I meet.” 


Emma Raducanu 

Tennis Player

"I don't really think about other people's opinions or expectations. The only ones I have are that of myself, to improve and get better." 


Greta Thunberg

Activist

"I have learned you are never too small to make a difference."


Misty Copeland

Ballet Dancer

"Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you." 


Nikita Gill

Poet, Playwright, Writer & Illustrator 

“Never ever mistake her silence for weakness. Remember that sometimes the air stills before the onset of a hurricane.” 


Amani Al-Khatahtbeh 

Author, activist & Technology Entrepreneur

“She has a voice. If you can’t hear it, it’s because you’re too busy talking.”

 

Helen Keller

Author, Disability Rights Advocate, Political Activist & Lecturer

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."


Sources

International Women's Day 

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

International Women's Day - 52 Inspirational quotes for women

https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/19614/52-inspirational-quotes-for-women-to-share-throughout-the-year