Hi, I’m Abhijit Dasgupta, Ph.D., the Chief Data Scientist at Zansors. On top of my professional hats, I’m also a dad to two small kids. As a parent I can see very quickly the effects of disturbed sleep on my kids – the crankiness, excitability and lower concentration. Occasional disturbed sleep patterns happen, whether because of a late night, a late sugar binge, a movie or TV show that affected them more than we thought, a fight with friends. As a data scientist I know that occasional events do not make a pattern, but if a pattern of bad sleep starts I want to catch it early. That’s why I was so excited when we started developing Sleep ChampTM.Why am I, as a parent, so concerned about my kids' sleep? Of course, I see the immediate short term behavioral effects, which are certainly irritating and disruptive. Modern sleep research has thrown up more serious long term effects of a poor sleep pattern, specially in kids and adolescents. Lack of sleep or poor sleep patterns have been associated with poor cognitive development, lower IQ, increased risk of obesity later in life, development of ADHD, higher risk of Type II diabetes, lower memory capacity, depression and anxiety. Poor sleep can directly lead to poorer grades, which sets kids up to be not as successful as their potential. As a parent my job is to prepare my kids to become successful adults, and give them the best possible chance to succeed. Given the potential downsides, having my kids develop good sleep habits, and intervening if I see patterns of poor sleep, seems to me a no-brainer.
The Sleep ChampTM app we developed at Zansors is an easy way to quantifiably monitor my kids' sleep. It’s based on state-of-the art sleep research at the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center by a renowned specialist, Dr. Ronald Chervin, in childhood sleep. It looks for problems that the most recent American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines suggest are symptomatic of poor sleep patterns and sleep apnea. Regularly using the Sleep ChampTM app and monitoring my kids' sleep score allows me to detect changes in my kids' sleep and start a conversation with our pediatrician earlier rather than later. To me, an occasional blip in the radar is just that, but a change in pattern means a time for change.
At Zansors, we are very excited about our products and their quality, and our ability to translate validated cutting edge research to useful consumer applications. As a parent, having something like the Sleep ChampTM on my smartphone or tablet allows me to take care of my kids better, and gives me a better chance of raising happier, healthier kids. I hope you can have the same positive experience that I’ve had with the Sleep ChampTM and other products we are testing right now and will release in the near future.
Good luck, and sweet dreams.
Abhijit Dasgupta, Ph.D. Zansors Chief Data Scientist
Email: abhijit@zansors.com Twitter: webbedfeet
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