Oxa's sleep preparation exercises include soothing soundscapes and hypnotic biofeedback to help you fall asleep. Oxa detects when you fall asleep and fades out the audio before switching to sleep monitoring. Sleep monitoring stays active until you wake up. Based on the data collected during sleep, Oxa displays metrics such as sleep position details, sleep onset, and detailed, interactive sleep timeline graphs.
As of April 2023, the first release of Oxa’s sleep tools is an early bird version. Keep an eye out for even more updates and enhancements coming in the upcoming weeks, and meanwhile, sleep tight! Contact us if you experience any issues or want to suggest improvements.
This article introduces Oxa’s sleep features and explains how to measure and explore your sleep activity with Oxa.
Note: Oxa’s sleep tracking currently relies on an active Bluetooth connection to your mobile device and the Oxa app. For the best experience, connect your mobile device to a charger nearby for the duration of the sleep experience. To optimize your battery levels, some Android phones will also try to close the Oxa app in the background. The configuration will be changed in the future to reduce the dependency on an active overnight connection with your phone.
To start Oxa’s sleep routine:
- Open the Oxa app.
- Select the Sleep tab.
- Select “It’s time to sleep”.
- Configure your preferences according to the options presented in the app, described below. Values selected the first time will be saved and can be adjusted before the next sleep session.
- Select I’m ready to sleep. The session starts if the sensor is connected. For help connecting the sensor, refer to the Oxa general setup instructions.
Breathing guide
The sleep preparation exercises are customizable, providing you with complete control over the experience. Choose your breathing rate and the audio breathing guide automatically adjusts to your selected pace, or choose free breathing or no guidance to lie down with less instruction.
To choose your breathing pace:
- Start step 1 / 3: Choose your breathing
If you’ve previously configured your sleep settings, select Modify next to Breathing pace - Swipe left to explore the breathing pace options:
- Easy: an easy, symmetrical breathing rate with 4 second inhales and 4 second exhales
- Optimal: a breathing rate of 6 br/min with 4 second inhales and 6 second exhales. 6 br/min is optimal for resonance and can help soothe you toward sleep.
- Custom:
- Basic: Tap the number and slide up or down to select the breathing rate that works best for you. Choose Natural for a 2:3 inhale:exhale ratio or Symmetrical for equal inhalation and exhalation lengths.
- Advanced: Tap Change view and configure and calculate your own breathing pattern.
- Free breathing: breathe on your own. The breathing guide is deactivated, but the audio experience is enabled. Choose your background audio experience and customize your soundscape in the next step.
- Sleep tracking only: breathe on your own with no audio experience. The breathing guide and audio experience are deactivated, with only sleep monitoring enabled.
- Select Choose. The selected breathing pace saves.
Audio experience
Based on your preferences, the sleep preparation phase provides soothing soundscapes and hypnotic biofeedback to help you fall asleep.
To choose your audio experience:
- Start step 2 / 3: Choose your audio
If you’ve previously configured your sleep settings, select Modify next to Audio experience - Choose between the listed audio options. Select Customize to adjust the balance of narration, breathing guide, soundscape (music), and biofeedback.
- Select Choose audio. The selected audio experience saves.
Note: if “Sleep tracking only” is selected as the breathing pace in step 1 / 3, the audio experience is automatically configured to “No audio”.
Once you start the sleep session, Oxa detects when you fall asleep and fades out the audio before switching to sleep monitoring.
Sleep monitoring
Oxa detects your sleep onset, and sleep monitoring stays active until you wake up. Based on the data collected during sleep, Oxa displays metrics such as sleep position details, sleep onset, and detailed, interactive sleep timeline graphs.
Sleep monitoring is activated by default. To deactivate sleep monitoring, tap the slider to toggle it off.
Starting Sleep
For the best experience, connect your mobile device to a charger nearby for the duration of the sleep experience.
Select I'm ready to sleep.
The LED fades off once the sleep preparation session begins.
Lie down, follow the guide, and let yourself relax to sleep. Lose yourself in Oxa’s hypnotic sleep preparation journey. A typical relaxed breathing state is faster than the guided relaxation rates. Once you stop following the guided breathing rate and your breathing rate speeds to 10 breaths per minute or more, the audio fades out and switches to monitoring. After approximately 2 minutes of independent breathing, the audio ends and sleep monitoring stays active.
Upon waking, explore your sleep summary.