Apollo Neuroscience develops wearable to help with stress, sleep, energy

ANAHEIM, Calif.—A new wearable device for the wrist or ankle can transmit vibrations that help the body beat stress by restoring its natural equilibrium.

Developed by Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Apollo Neuroscience Inc., the wellness device, which is named Apollo, is said to be the first wearable to reduce stress, improve sleep and increase energy.

A mobile app paired with the wearable tells it to generate one of seven different modes of vibrations, the company said. The vibration patterns send safety signals to the body to improve heart rate variability (HRV), which is a metric of the body's recovery from stress.

The improved HRV restores equilibrium and, depending on the mode, allows wearers to relax, get restorative sleep, focus attention or boost energy.

Physicians and neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh spent five years developing and testing the wearable in the lab and real world. Their goal was to find ways to reduce the negative effects of stress and give individuals more control over their attention, mood and overall health.

The university team discovered that certain combinations of low frequency sound waves—vibrations that can be felt but not heard—can safely and reliably change how someone feels through the sense of touch. They also found that physiological changes can be measured in near real time.

The developers made two important material choices in terms of an engineered plastic for the device, and a synthetic rubber for the band, said John J. Maholtz, Apollo Neuroscience chief operating officer. Because Apollo is worn on the wrist or ankle, it needs to withstand lotions, perfumes and cleaners in addition to wear and tear.

The Apollo device is made of a polycarbonate-polyester blend material called Makroblend M525 supplied by Covestro L.L.C., while the strap is a polyester neoprene. The Makroblend material met requirements for toughness and chemical resistance, Maholtz said. The strap material was chosen for its comfort.

"We made a prototype and I couldn't quite adjust it where I wanted," he said. "It was either a little loose or a little tight. This material (polyester neoprene) with Velcro allows you to pull it as tight as you want. It's comfortable and it meets biocompatibility."

Regardless of whether someone is selecting an Apollo mode to get to sleep or perform better, they don't want the wearable to feel too noticeable.

"Comfort is critical. It makes no sense to have a sleep device if it keeps you awake," said Douglas Hamilton, Covestro's global health care segment leader.

In addition to the mode of "sleep and renew," the Apollo wearable can be set to modes called: energy and wakeup, social and open, clear and focused, rebuild and recover, meditation and mindfulness, and relax and unwind.

Feel the rhythm
The seven modes match a natural oscillation pattern between the heart and lungs that consistently improves HRV in lab trials and in real world use, according to the company.

Kathryn Fantauzzi, Apollo Neuroscience CEO and co-founder, said the body equates the rhythm of the Apollo vibrations with a soothing gentle touch, like a friend or mom giving you a hug on a bad day.

"Apollo works through your sense of touch and helps you bounce back," Fantauzzi said.

Essentially, when we get stressed our fight-or-flight system is activated, she added.

"We start to sweat, breathe quickly and our heart rate is faster because our brain is telling us there's a threat. In nature, it would be a bear or something like that. Your body wants to escape the threat."

In the modern world, the threat could be a work email, child screaming or traffic, Fantauzzi said.

"Over time your body gets primed to be in a more stressful state than is warranted," she said. "That causes your body to not be able to recover from stress, which is why people have a hard time sleeping when they're stressed out. Or they have a hard time relaxing or meditating or clearing their head to focus. It's because they're really wound up."

Fantauzzi said that feeling of being wound up comes from the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system.

"That's your body saying you don't have time for deep breathing. You don't have time for meditation or sleep. There's a bear outside," she said.

The Apollo wearable counters that feeling in a way Fantauzzi compared to a baby that stops crying when picked up by the mother.

"That's partly the emotional cortex in the brain picking up on the feeling of that soothing touch and realizing it's not actually under threat," Fantauzzi said. "Then, the body starts to regulate itself. The heart rate comes down, blood pressure stabilizes, people start to breathe more normally and they stop sweating. And that allows the body to recover from stress."

In an early study of 38 people, participants reported feeling calmer with the Apollo vibration patterns, their performance on a cognitive test improved and their HRV went up within three minutes.

HRV measures the variation in time between heartbeats. High HRV is associated with resilience, consistent performance and better sleep, while low HRV is associated with poor sleep, lack of focus, and increased risk of physical and mental illness.

The Apollo wearable has been evaluated in three university-led clinical trials and thousands of case studies that show increased HRV, according to research and studies with links on the company's website.

The preliminary findings "suggest that the specific vibration patterns used in the Apollo technology increased the ability to focus and remain calm during periods of stress, and that these programs improve the body's ability to recover and be resilient to stress, as measured by HRV," the company said.

In addition, the more HRV increased with Apollo vibration patterns, the better subjects performed on the task.

One of the testimonials for the device comes from Dr. Joseph C. Maroon, M.D., who is a neurosurgeon for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said there are many devices to measure HRV, but none to improve it until Apollo came along

"Within just two to four minutes it produces a calm state, in which you are better focused and less stressed, and it allows you to function at a higher level," Maroon said.

Game changer
Apollo Neuroscience staff is working next on automation features, but for now users pick a mode for waking up, socializing, sleep or meditation, and set the duration between five minutes and two hours.

"It will oscillate over a period of time, kind of like a body play list," Fantauzzi said.

People who wear Apollo to focus or sleep typically find that after a couple minutes their body is back to its baseline and they can concentrate or rest, she added.

"So it's a drug-free solution," Fantauzzi said.

Apollo is another technology transforming the way we work, live and play, Hamilton said. In this case, a consumer wearable is moving more toward treating ailments.

"This is a consumer device that Apollo claims has been clinically proven to treat certain stress disorders, like (attention deficit disorder)," Hamilton said.

He expects the next advance in wearables to involve blood pressure monitoring.

"Consumer devices are getting closer and closer to what you experience in a doctor's office," Hamilton said. "One of the challenges I see going into the future is that we only have so much real estate on our body. How will all this be integrated into one device?"

Apollo wearables launched in January at the Consumer Electronics Show and also were shown in February at the Medical Design & Manufacturing West trade show in Anaheim. The devices sell for $349 and are on back order for one to two months.