As smartwatches continue to advance in monitoring our health and fitness data, there is a growing focus on how they can also enhance our sleep quality and overall mental well-being. Citizen, a renowned watchmaker, has joined this trend with its new CZ Smart watch lineup unveiled at CES, set to hit the US market in March.

The CZ Smart watches by Citizen are designed to leverage tools developed from research conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory. These smartwatches come in a “casual” version starting at $350 and a “sport” model starting at $375.

Citizen’s CZ Smart watch exemplifies the evolving landscape of wearable technology, where manufacturers are delving into the realms of sleep tracking and stress management to better understand their impact on our physical health. Beyond merely tracking health metrics, these devices now aim to provide insights and context to empower users in their well-being journey.

A key feature of the Citizen CZ Smart watch is its Alert Scores, generated through the app’s Alert Monitor test. This test, inspired by NASA’s Psychomotor Vigilance Test for assessing alertness, can be taken daily to gauge one’s readiness. Additionally, the watch excels in sleep tracking by identifying the wearer’s chronotype (morning or evening person) using IBM’s Watson Studio and correlating it with Alert Scores for personalized insights.

By combining chronotype data, Alert Scores, heart rate, sleep patterns, and activity metrics, Citizen’s CZ Smart watch generates tailored recommendations called Power Fixes to address fatigue and enhance alertness. These suggestions are rooted in NASA research findings.

In terms of functionality, Citizen’s new smartwatches boast standard features like a microphone, speaker, and support for popular apps such as Spotify, Amazon Alexa, and Strava. Equipped with sensors like a gyroscope, accelerometer, and blood oxygen monitor, these watches operate on Google’s Wear OS platform, compatible with both iOS and Android devices.

While the effectiveness of Citizen’s Alert Monitor and chronotype assessments can only be validated through hands-on experience, these innovations align with the industry-wide shift towards holistic health tracking in wearable technology. Leading brands like Apple, Fitbit, and Samsung have also integrated advanced sleep tracking and stress detection features in their recent wearable releases.

The launch of Citizen’s CZ Smart watch comes at a time when user data privacy is under heightened scrutiny, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding sensitive information gathered by tech devices. Despite these considerations, Citizen’s commitment to enhancing users’ well-being through innovative wearable technology reflects the ongoing evolution of the smartwatch industry.