Touch-Therapy Wearable Helps People Sleep Better, Oura-Affiliated Study Finds

A peer-reviewed study analyzing nearly 475,000 nights of sleep found that Apollo Neuro wearable users gained an average of 46 extra minutes of sleep per night, and slept better and deper thanks to the wearable’s AI-powered vibration tech

Sleep-improving wearables have become big business. At least one figures to have real-world benefits, according to a new study.

In a peer-reviewed clinical study published in the journal JMIR mHealth and uHealth, researchers found that chronic short sleepers gained an average of 46 additional minutes of sleep per night while using the Apollo Neuroscience wearable, while also experiencing a 77% reduction in the likelihood of experiencing short sleep (less than six hours).

The study examined nearly 475,000 nights of real-world sleep data across 935 Apollo users, who also wore Oura rings for continuous sleep tracking.

The wrist-worn device utilizes Apollo’s patented vibration technology called Vibes, which are silent sound wave vibrations, delivered and personalized through an app, that activate the vagus nerve to immediately calm the body. The gentle, rhythmic touch slows heart rate and helps to improve HRV while shifting the nervous system out of restlessness and stress into recovery, according to the brand.

“This is one of the largest real-world interventional sleep studies ever conducted examining how wearable technology can improve sleep,” said Dr. David M. L. Rabin, a neuroscientist and board-certified psychiatrist who is the chief medical officer and co-founder of Apollo.

“For hundreds of millions of people struggling with chronic sleep issues, these findings suggest that using the Apollo wearable can meaningfully support healthier sleep as much as leading prescription sleep medications, without side effects, or active effort,” Dr. Rabin added.

The study was Apollo’s second indicating sleep benefits from using its wearable. In addition to the extra minutes of sleep, participants also got a boost in sleep quality, with increased REM sleep and preservation of longer deep sleep. 

Researchers also found that more frequent Apollo use supported better sleep, demonstrating a dose-dependent relationship between nighttime vibration exposure and total sleep time and quality.

“This study marks an important milestone in sleep medicine,” said co-author and double-board-certified sleep clinician Dr. Michael Breus. 

“Across nearly half a million nights of real-world data, Apollo was associated with clinically meaningful improvements in sleep duration without medication or intensive behavioral intervention,” Breus continued. “It points toward a future where we help the nervous system naturally create healthier sleep, giving millions of people with chronic insomnia and short sleep a technology option that provides comparable sleep improvement to industry-leading prescription sleep medications.”

Having access to the Oura Ring was also crucial for the study, as users could have consistent sleep tracking that enabled researchers to observe therapeutic outcomes at scale in the context of everyday life, without interventions that required participants to change their behavior or enter a controlled setting.

“What makes these findings particularly significant is that they reflect the real world, not a controlled environment,” said Apollo Neuroscience CEO and co-founder Kathryn Fantauzzi. “Participants were Apollo customers using the product exactly as any customer would — no special protocols, no coaching, no researcher involvement.”

The market for sleep-promoting wearables is only growing as optimization culture brings sleepmaxxing to the next level, positioning brands like Apollo for growth.

AI-powered sleep headband Somnee — winner of the NFL Players Association’s Pitch Day this year — landed $10 million in funding last year for its neurotech that uses EEG sensors and AI to guide the brain into a natural sleep state.

NextSense is betting on a similar approach, this time for the ears. Its sleep-optimizing EEG-powered Smartbuds earned the company $16 million in funding last November.