Zeo Sleep Manager

Last week we introduced a new tool to the training repertoire.  The ZEO Sleep Manager tracks your sleep patterns over the course of the night’s sleep.  It tracks how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you wake up and how long you spend in each sleep zone:  REM, Deep Sleep, and Light Sleep.  Then, based on all those factors it produces a quantitative value for ZQ or the “Sleep Quotient.”  This number can then be tracked as a nightly assessment of your sleep health.   The interesting learning comes from the awareness of the patterns and how a typical sleep compares to ‘normal’ ranges for a similar age and gender.  After compiling 6 nights of sleep data, the myzeo.com website will create an assessment and begin an action plan.  Based on my goals at the start and the baseline sleep from last week, the 7 step action plan has now begun, starting with a relaxation mp3 file to work on reduced mental stress and a more focused relaxation at bed time.  It is amazing to see how the sleep patters or the ZQ variations align with reduced performance and the offset of that impact.  For example, my sleep on Thursday night was horrendous and my ride on Saturday was much more challenging than it normally would be.  Of course other factors were at play, but this insight was eye-opening as to the impact of a poor night’s sleep and how that may predict a poor training or racing day.  I look forward to boosting my ZQ baseline from a 69 into the 80s and get my total Z into the 7:00 range as I learn and practice from the action plan topics.