It’s a GO!

This week, Apple approved the release of the SleepQ app for iOS!  As I waited those final moments (clicking “refresh” until my finger was numb :), I took a moment to reflect on the SleepQ  journey.  From solid/interesting insomnia research out of Australia, to an idea for a mechanical device that detected sleep, to weeks of tinkering in a college Electronics class, to fledgling Kickstarter and Indigogo campaigns, to an app with a completely different way to detect sleep… crazy!

And now here we are:  a way to allow chronic insomniacs to do Intensive Sleep Retraining anywhere, anytime, for as little or as long as they wish, and share their results.  As a Clinical Sleep Educator for many moons, I’m proud to have created something that can really help literally millions who struggle with sleep – both falling asleep and getting back to sleep – without pills.  It’s like anything you can learn through practice:  music, art, speech, cooking, etc.  The list is long, and sleep is on that list.

The statement on our website from Drs. Speilman and Glovinsky, two HUGE names in sleep research on insomnia, regarding the Intensive Sleep Retraining (ISR) research of Harris et al. in Australia have echoed through my mind each time I felt that maybe I was on the wrong path over the last couple of years:

“The findings of Harris et al. suggest that ISR holds great promise. Patients await a non-drug treatment for insomnia that brings relief as rapidly as medication. Clinicians in the community look forward to more widely applicable ISR-like procedures that can be implemented at home, without expensive and complicated sleep technology, by non-sleep experts. This stunning demonstration by Harris and colleagues should serve as a challenge to the field to create the next generation of theoretically driven non-pharmacological treatments for insomnia.”

SleepQ is ISR, and for about the cost of one morning latte, it is now complete!   Here’s the link   If the iPhone version is popular, we’ll do an Android version next.

I hope you will share the link with someone you know who is one of the approx. 20 million adults who struggles frequently with slumber 🙂

Til Morning,

Michael