Sleep posture monitor alerts you to dangerous positions

Age, we are told, is just a number, but that number seems to be the ever-increasing number of injuries of a ridiculous nature. Where once the younger version of us could jump out of a moving car or fall out of a tree with just a few scratches to show the effort, add a few dozen trips around the sun and you'll find that just "sleeping funny" can put you out of action for a week.

To avoid such misfortunes, [Elite Worm] created this sleeping posture alarm to watch for nighttime transgressions, after noticing that switching to a face down sleeping position hurt his neck. He first considered using simple mechanical toggle switches to detect unconscious excursions from supine to prone position. But rather than being locked into a single posture, he decided to use an accelerometer instead. The IMU and an ATtiny85 live on a custom PCB with a small vibrating motor, which allows for more discreet alerts than a buzzer or beeper.

Placed in a 3D-printed enclosure and attached to his shorts, the wearable is ready to use. The microcontroller wakes up every eight seconds to check its position, sounding the alarm if it drifts into painful territory. [Elite] ran a power analysis on the device, and while there's room for improvement, the currently estimated 18 days between charges isn't too shabby. The video below has all the details; hopefully the design files and code will appear on his GitHub soon.

Given that most of us spend a third of our lives sleeping, it's no wonder hackers tackle sleep issues with flying colors. From observing your brainwaves to nonsensical AI-generated ASMR, there's plenty to hack into once your head hits the pillow.