Snoring is, in its most basic sense, an abnormality that blocks clear breathing while you’re asleep. Whether it’s caused by fatty tissues around the neck, by sinuses, by an irregular palate, or even your tongue, snoring occurs in a majority of people for various reasons… and more than being an inconvenience, snoring can increase the risk of having a stroke or heart attack in your sleep, because anything prompting you to snore is essentially obstructing your breathing and causing lesser oxygen to to be delivered to your body.

One major reason for snoring is that when you sleep on your back, your tongue tends to fall backwards due to gravity and block the air passage at the oral pharynx. The simple solution to that problem is to sleep on your side, so your tongue doesn’t slide backwards and obstruct the air path. The Philips SmartSleep Anti-Snoring Band, debuted at the IFA Press-Conference this year, prompts you, through gentle vibrations, to sleep on your side. Strapped around your waist, the band has the ability to sense when you’re supine, or on your back, and coaxes you to sleep on your side by delivering soft vibrations that get you to adjust your position in your sleep without waking you up. The band optimizes patterns based on your sleep intensity to determine the best way to subconsciously alert you and machine learning even determines the most optimal time to give you the nudge. The result? A quieter night of sleep for you as well as your partner, and easier and healthier breathing for you.

Designer: Philips