Monday, January 23, 2012

Philips Wake-Up Light

We think that there is no argument that waking up to an alarm clock is good. A loud ringing bell, a repeating buzzer, or the inane over-inflected voice of a morning DJ (public radio excluded of course) are all things that irritate us when we are wide awake in the middle of the day, yet for whatever reason we accept them as a device to wake us from a restful sleep. Seems comically obvious that this is a bad idea right? In the parlance of the infomercial...there's gotta be a better way! Sleep scientists speak about the idea of sleep inertia, meaning that just like instantly stopping a truck carrying 10000 litres of gasoline, abruptly waking one from a deep sleep is also not recommended. Our body clock is amazingly sensitive to light, meaning that we are programmed to go to bed when it's dark, and naturally wake when sun comes up. The people at Philips want us all to get a more restful sleep and thereby avoiding that morning fog that affects so many, and in turn have invented the wake-up light. Set the "alarm" thirty minutes before you wake-up time, and the wake up light simulates a sunrise, gradually getting brighter and allowing you to naturally wash away the sleep hormones before you wake up, and therefore waking up feeling more rested and eliminating morning grogginess. During a two week study in the northern most city on earth, and therefore the darkest town during winter months, 72% of users reported that getting up was much easier. We don't know about you...but waking up this way sounds great to us. More info available here.

No comments:

Post a Comment