The mask that ‘trains brains to avoid jetlag’ ... and it’ll only cost you £200!
INVENTORS have created a sleep mask that promises to ward off jet lag even before you have stepped on a plane.
They claim artificial light emitted by the mask alters the wearer’s sleeping pattern in the lead up to a trip so the brain is prepared for a new time zone.
Wearers are able to program the NeuroOn mask with a smartphone app according to their destination.
The £200 gadget then triggers light sensors in the eyes, tricking the body into thinking that the sun is rising even if it is dark outside. It means the wearer will wake up at the optimum time, or the lightest stage in the sleep cycle, for the time zone to which they have to adapt.
The makers also claim the device can monitor eye movement, muscle tension, oxygen levels
‘Understands our body clock’
and body temperature to maximise the wearer’s adjustment to a new sleep pattern.
They also suggest it could help night-shift workers adapt to a nocturnal life.
In humans and other mammals, the body clock is regulated by the senses – namely by the way the eye perceives light and dark and the way skin feels temperature changes. The mask locks into this system by monitoring our daily pattern and then gradually altering it in the days before we travel.
After inputting the destination into the app, the program calculates the best time to go to sleep and when to get up.
For example, if someone is due to fly from London to California in the US, which is eight hours behind, the app will calculate a four-day schedule with six-hour ‘light’ and ‘dark’ periods. These shift two hours later each day to prepare the wearer for the new time zone.
And if someone is going to travel from London to China, which is eight hours ahead, the app calculates a schedule, with the light and dark periods getting earlier each day, rather than later.
Kamil Adamczyk, 24, chief executive of Intel Clinic, the company behind the technology, said: ‘The NeuroOn is an artificial light source. It activates the light sensitive receptors that send information to our brains.
‘More specifically it targets the pineal gland, the part of the brain that produces melatonin, the sleep hormone. The device understands our body clock and with light therapy it can manage the production of sleep hormone in the brain.
‘Irregular sleeping times, restlessness, and jetlag are just some of the problems facing professional urban dwellers in the 21st century.
‘The NeuroOn gathers data, and with the help of the app’s algorithms, delivers personalised recommendations to the user that can combat these issues.’
Mr Adamczyk, from Warsaw in Poland, came with the idea for the NeuroOn when he was struggling to sleep during his medical exams at university.
He said: ‘I was skipping sleeping. I started looking for information about why I couldn’t fall asleep even when I was tired. That’s when I discovered that our body clock could be controlled externally.’
The mask, which is machine washable, can be pre-ordered on NeuroOn’s website for $299 (£195.34) and can be shipped to the UK when the final product is released in September.