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October 31, 2004
Wakey wakey









I am not a morning person; indeed, my circadian rhythms have been so thoroughly addled by work lately that I am probably now a close relative of the common fruit bat. Thus my delight at finding the "Light Sleeper Duvet", a new rise-'n-shine technology. It was created by a company called Loop.ph, but don't hold their annoying intentionally-unpronounceable name against them; their actual product seems to be kind of cool. It's designed to wake us up gradually by slowly glowing brighter and brighter over a 20-minute period, mimicking the slow creep of ambient sunlight at dawn. The upshot is a duvet that helps ameliorate seasonal affective disorder and jetlag, as the designers note on their site:

It is recognised by most scientists that SAD and other sleep/ mood disorders are linked to a shift in the suprachaismatic nucleus or circadian rhythm and often referred to as the ‘body clock’. It is recommended that a bright light stimulus is needed to reset the body clock everyday recognising that this controls our daily sleep/wake cycle and hormone functions. [snip] Exposure to intense artificial light suppresses the secretion of the night time hormone melatonin, and may enhance the effectiveness of serotonin and other neurotransmitters. It is believed to be the only way of shifting the circadian rhythm. Research shows that the body’s internal clock only responds to bright light at certain times of day. This peak time in normal people occurs when the circadian rhythm is in R.E.M sleep, which is approximately 1 to 2 hours before waking. This promotes the use of Light Sleeper Bedding and proves it to be one of the most effective products for treating SAD and improving well being as it synchronises our body clock each morning. The bedding is also suitable for those who keep unusual hours and who travel in helping to prevent jet lag and regulate the body clock. Our body clock responds to an imitation sunrise by accelerating the wake-up processes.

(Thanks to Rick Spence for this one!)

Posted by Clive Thompson at October 31, 2004 09:26 PM

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» The wake up duvet from we make money not art
The "Light Sleeper Duvet", by Loop.ph, is an illuminating alarm integrated into your bedding that wakes you up by slowly glowing brighter and brighter over a 15 to 20-minute period, mimicking the slow creep of ambient sunlight at dawn. The... [Read More]

Tracked on November 1, 2004 5:37 AM

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The "Light Sleeper Duvet", by Loop.ph, is an illuminating alarm integrated into your bedding that wakes you up by slowly glowing brighter and brighter over a 15 to 20-minute period, mimicking the slow creep of ambient sunlight at dawn.... [Read More]

Tracked on November 1, 2004 1:26 PM

Comments

When I first saw this, it (and the other stuff they do) looked like a great sci-art concept - are they actually going into production?

Posted by: Mark Eichin at October 31, 2004 10:40 PM

I don't know, but I wish they would! I suspect the duvet would cost, like, two grand or something, though.

Posted by: Clive at October 31, 2004 11:07 PM

Where can I learn about the cryptographers who figured out what had been blacked out in the Bush administration documents?

Posted by: Jeff at October 31, 2004 11:24 PM

When I first saw this, it (and the other stuff they do) looked like a great sci-art concept - are they actually going into production?

Posted by: Mark Eichin at October 31, 2004 11:57 PM

Pshh, yeah, like I need another $2,000 duvet.

Posted by: Robin at November 1, 2004 1:42 AM

Heh.

Posted by: Clive at November 1, 2004 1:58 AM

"suprachaismatic nucleus" is my new imaginary punk band name.

Posted by: june at November 1, 2004 1:30 PM

Be weary Clive!

Any company that purports to use scientific research to hock a product is suspect. They have something to gain from reporting bad or bogus research, right?

Although the superchiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is the biological clock, and light certainly 'entrains' sleep-wake cycles via the SCN, some of the research on the effects of light are controversial and dubious at best. A talk I attended by one expert in the field said "millions" of dollars were spent trying to replicate a study that claimed shining light on the back of a person's knees could counteract jetlag. It still hasn't been done.

Maybe this thing will work...I really don't know. But I would be careful offering legitimacy to companies using science to hock a product. This is how the populus becomes mis-informed...

Sorry to be a pedant and a critic. My humblest respect to you and your work.

Posted by: Steve at November 1, 2004 11:50 PM

No, you're not being pedantic at all. Indeed, you're quite correct to be skeptical of anyone citing scientific jargon at great length in service of selling you something; in the last hundred years, we haven't come terribly far from Victorian "magic elixirs", as was documented in a superb piece on the rise of the herbal-diet-supplement industry in the New Yorker a few months back.

I also remember reading about that back-of-the-knee light-shining experiment, and I too remember thinking it sounded like complete horseshit. However, if I'm not misremembering this, there have been some less-dubious experiments where subjects were exposed to bright, full-room lights, and it was able to knock their internal clocks into a new rhythm. I don't know if that stuff ever went anywhere, but it made more sense then that crazy knee stuff.

Posted by: Clive at November 2, 2004 12:30 AM

Benefits of exposure to "full-spectrum light" are popping up all over. Recently there's been a correlation between Multiple Sclerosis and distance from the Equator. The (unproven) idea is that sunlight and/or vitamin D may well play a key role in preventing the ailment. My mom is from Winnipeg, Manitoba (if you yanks don't know where it is, you probably wouldn't want to) and the rate of MS affliction there is particularily high.
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/IMSJan04-Sunlight.asp

Posted by: brian at November 2, 2004 1:28 PM

Yeah, my mom grew up in Winnipeg, too. It can be very pretty in the summer, but in the winter it's like the surface of the moon.

Posted by: Clive at November 8, 2004 10:05 AM

Posted by: online poker at January 26, 2005 4:42 PM

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