If you have a particularly strong strain of the travel bug, jet lag is one of the biggest roadblocks to overcome. This is especially true on cross-globe missions that may have your body ten hours or more out of sync. Sometimes an entire day or two of vacation can be spent adjusting to the time difference, and the same upon return.
One way to combat this might be in start-up Inteliclinic’s intelligent wearable, the Neuroon Sleeping Mask. Initially funded on KickStarter (and receiving four times its goal!), it contains a suite of biometric sensors: single-channel EEG, pulse oximetry, body temperature, and actimetry (body movement while asleep.) It also has an array of LED lights that strategically pulse to regulate the wearer’s sleep, both grounded and on flights.
The “Jet Lag Blocker” feature prompts users to program their destination into the accompanying mobile app, then selects the appropriate light therapy to regulate melatonin levels in the sleeper’s body. The technique, for those wondering, is called light spectrum therapy, which allegedly increases energy that leads to better sleep, as well as adjustment to time zone differences.
Preventing jet lag is thus far the only specific use case for Neuroon, but it comes equipped with a number of programs aiming to give users more health sleep:
- Sleep analytics: Calculation of a “sleep score” based on a report of time spent falling asleep, duration, and patterns. Sleep score can help determine where in the sleep cycle users lose restful sleep.
- Light Boost: 20 minute LED light therapy session that can stimulate focus and reduce tiredness.
- Sunrise: Light therapy that imitates sunrise for more energy upon wakeup.
- Personal Pause: A personalized nap program that stops the wearer from entering the deepest sleep phase—to make “power naps” more effective.
- Biorhythm adjuster: Variable daily schedules take a toll on sleep health, so this light therapy can help adjust circadian rhythms the irregular lifestyle alters.
Impressive…falling asleep next to a device that’s notorious for making people lose sleep. (Credit: Inteliclinic)
Neuroon is the first finished device to come from Inteliclinic. However, in browsing their website the company is definitely one to keep an eye on—according to their page their focus is to develop devices with “biological signal processing systems and artificial intelligence technologies for consumer electronics and medicine.” They appear to be mainly focusing on sleep health for the moment; no small feat, considering how much trouble Americans in particular seem to have in falling and staying asleep.
