What kinds of brain activity can Zeo measure?

Zeo measures brainwaves in order to detect when you’re asleep and what stage sleep you’re in.  Specifically, the headband measures brainwave activity from 2Hz-50Hz of power which includes delta, alpha, and some gamma (40Hz) waves.  With the sensor pad on the forehead–where the skulll is thin, its easier to detect electrical activity without much distortion, and the sensors come into direct contact with the skin–sleep stages can be accurately determined.

That said, since Zeo only has three points of contact on the forehead, this means that any measured brain activity also includes global “synchronous” output. The sensors not only pick up signals from the frontal lobe but also other nearby structures of the brain, which are often active and firing together simultaneously during sleep.  However, brain activity from deeply buried structures like the hippocampus, don’t add much to the Zeo read-out. Likewise, Zeo cannot detect any sharp waves (150Hz+) emitted from structures like the hippocampus.

Kieep in mind that full-scale polysomnagraphy, which uses multiple points of contact on the skull does show that the hippocampus is active during the REM stage of sleep.  It’s also important to remember that REM sleep–a stage know for memory consolidation–is comprised of many different types of brain activity, and that Zeo can detect this.

Related Questions:

• Can sleep frequencies be detected from all points on the head?
• How does Zeo score sleep stages less than 2 minutes long?
• How is REM different from Deep?
• How accurate is Zeo?
• How can I track polyphasic sleep using myZeo?

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