Sleep Cycle
Understand your sleep
I have been using Sleep Cycle to track my sleep for the past 2 years. I started using it because I wanted to know if I did, in fact, talk in my sleep (my roommate said I did but I wanted to be sure). Though I downloaded the app for a specific reason, and even paid for the premium subscription, I found that I wasn’t interacting much with the data.
Research has shown that smartphone-based sleep tracking devices could be useful in managing the effects of mental health disorders as they relate to sleep and provide potential opportunities for interventions through personalized and adaptive sleep monitoring. However, the efficacy of such a treatment is dependent on the users’ participation and engagement with the data.
I set out to create a feature that would encourage users to interact with their sleep data and help them sleep better.
The current app interface only provides users with the basic numerical data about their sleep quality. Sleep insights provide users with an interpretation of their sleep data and actionable suggestions to help them improve their sleep health.
To inform the sleep insights and help users be more intentional with their days, the sleep journal feature allows users to document the key details of their day to explore how they could affect their sleep patterns. Users can access this journal throughout the day from the app and through Apple Watch.
Users can access the Sleep Journal on Apple Watch to quickly make note of their mood throughout the day. They can also receive Sleep Insight notifications.
As a neuroscientist and recent college grad, I am quite familiar with sleep deprivation and the ways it can mess with the mind and body. However, research has suggested that sleep tracking using common technology is a viable way to manage one’s mental health for personal and medical purposes.
Integrating sensing technology into smartphones and smart devices for sleep tracking could help manage one’s mental disorders. However, the efficacy of using this technology for mental health treatment depends on users’ long-term engagement. 1,2
Heightened anxiety and depression are often the greatest predictors of changes in sleep quality. 3
Understanding the relationship between sleep and mental health in those with generally healthy sleep habits is important due to the potential to intervene and improve mental health outcomes before they become clinically concerning. 4
I interviewed 6 people in their 20s to better understand how and why they track their sleep. Two main themes arose from these conversations:
Most participants mentioned that they pay attention to their sleep patterns in an effort to manage their mental wellbeing and practice self-care.
They also mentioned that they began tracking their sleep as a way to understand the effects of their sleep on their bodies and how they go about their days.
By creating a jobs table and day-in-the-life customer journey map, I could better understand the target user and their goals. Mia Jones exemplifies the target user for this project. She would like to better understand her sleep habits and learn how she can improve her habits in order to take better care of herself mentally and physically.
The idea for a sleep journal came about during one (of many) Crazy-8 activities when thinking about other apps that help manage one’s health. For example, period tracking apps such as Flo and Clue allow users to note their feelings and activities to better understand the correlations with their menstrual cycle. User-inputted data will also be useful for tailored sleep insights to help users get better sleep.
The goal of testing was to explore whether participants could access the sleep journal feature and discover which interface design they preferred, the original or the redesign. Testing the prototype with 20 users via Maze, all participants were able to access the sleep journal and sleep insights, and I uncovered a few opportunities for improvement.
Participants appreciated being welcomed into the app but found that the additional step to set the alarm was not ideal. Therefore, I rearranged the homepage to include setting the alarm without going to another page.
There was a 50/50 split in preference over the old UI and my redesigned solution. I incorporated the benefits of both designs into the second iteration; I kept the welcoming homepage and simplified the process for setting the alarm.
This project taught me the importance of research and asking the right questions when starting a new project. I spent a lot of time exploring scientific literature on sleep to better understand how to approach this project. However, perhaps my time could have been better spent by talking to more people about their relationship to sleep. Then, perhaps those conversations could lead to even greater insights.
In recent years, we’ve seen an increase in wellness and health tracking apps that help people become more in tune with their bodies. This could be the future of technology and healthcare. If we can better understand ourselves, we could detect our own health issues earlier which could lead to earlier detection and treatment. We use technology to connect with others - through social media, FaceTime, etc - so why not use this technology to connect with ourselves as well.