Sleep disorders are extremely common in the general population, with estimates of 15 million adults in the U.S. with persistent insomnia, and another 24 million adults and children suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. The current model of care is for people to seek consultation with their primary care doctor first about their sleep issues. From there, people are referred for sleep studies, sleep specialists, or given medications. Treatment is often delayed, involves potentially habit-forming if medications, or is too expensive to pursue.
Smartphones are becoming the predominant link between data and people. Most current smartphones provide a capability to use mobile software applications (apps). A mobile software application (app) can embody a defined set of functionality and can be installed and executed on a mobile device, such as a smartphone, a tablet device, laptop computer, or other form of mobile computing or communications device. Conventional mobile apps are available that focus on one narrow aspect or another of different sleep problems. However, these conventional mobile apps do not integrate a set of diagnostic and therapeutic tools to fully assess and treat a user's sleep disorder. For example, current systems do not integrate a user's sleep history in a diagnostic and treatment system. Additionally, one may find a mobile app that plays soothing music, or another that wakes the user up at a particular time, or another that records snoring. However, these systems cannot combine data obtained in a diagnostic phase for use in a sleep disorder treatment phase.