Does The ZEO Help You Get Your ZZZZZ?

MIAMI (CBS4) - Freddy Rozen is a photographer, yearning to sleep better, longer and deeper.

"I really don't sleep too much," said Rozen.

David Williams is a teacher.  He admitted that he wakes up to every noise in the middle of the night.

"Sometimes I wake up and I'm still tired," Williams said.

Carla Zyngier is a banker who said she too is curious about her sleep.

CBS4's Cynthia Demos put the three 'guinea pigs' to the test.

The ZEO is a sleep manager that claims to track how well you sleep.  You put the monitor around your forehead like a miner's light.  The device reads your sleep habits through the blue tooth on your smart phone and the results are kept every night to mark your sleep pattern.

"I think it's interesting," said UHealth Sleep expert Dr. Shirin Shafazand.

We brought the device to her for an analysis.  She said it measures one brain wave.

"In a sleep lab we measure several brain waves," said Shafazand.  "It's more accurate but this is a good start."

The ZEO tells you how long you sleep.  All of our testers slept around five hours a night, not the seven to nine that experts say are needed.

The results show how many times you wake up, how much REM sleep you get, how much light sleep you are getting and it shows your deep sleep.  It combines all the information and depending on your age, a sliding device in the package gives you what the company calls a "ZQ" score.

If you are in your 20's you want about 7.3 hours of sleep with 1.6 REM, 83 minutes in deep sleep and 16 min awake.  That ZQ score would total 86.  Someone in their 40's needs 6.8 hours of sleep with 1.4 in REM, 56 minutes in deep sleep and 28 minutes awake.   That would be a ZQ score of 74.

The reaction from our guinea pigs? David Williams said it was "right on the money."

Carla Zyngier told Demos, "It was a confirmation about how I sleep."

Freddy Rozen said, "I loved it."

CBS4's Cynthia Demos said, "We leant you the device and you liked it so much what happened?"

Rozen replied, "The minute I had to return yours, I bought one!"

At the beginning of testing the device Freddy was sleeping about 5  hours and not getting enough REM or deep sleep.  His ZQ score was low but after reading the ZEO website and finding out the habits he needed to change he made some adjustments.  "I had a habit of pigging out or bingeing before bed."

Dr. Shafazand said the information online is what's most appealing. "What I like is the sleep management tips that come with it, " said Shafazand.

Freddy also watched his caffeine intake and  made other suggested adjustments and suddenly a real change was noted.  His ZQ score went from 54 to 76, just perfect!  The ZEO proved perfect to helping Freddy get his zzzz's.

The device will run you about $100.