Sleep is essential to a good day, but what if you toss and turn all night?
Kello, a new alarm clock designed to help change your sleep patterns, hopes to tackle a serious health and quality-of-life issue.
The crowdsourced device encourages users to sleep more soundly and even wake up earlier.
Its “deep sleep” feature emits a gentle pulsing light that mimics the rhythm of breathing. Users follow the lights to slow down to their own natural sleep rhythms.
Need help maintaining a regular bedtime? Just input your goal wakeup time for the month, and a sky full of stars will appear when it’s the optimal time to hit the hay.
Looking at hard numbers, more than 8.6 million Americans rely on sleeping pills to get a good night’s sleep, according to a 2013 federal health study.
A Harvard Medical School study indicates adopting a bedtime routine that includes limitations on light and caffeine, among other things, could be beneficial to getting enough restorative sleep. The study also encourages the sleep-deprived to avoid exercising, eating, and drinking too close to bedtime. Creating a bedroom environment that is conducive to sleep is also helpful.
The National Sleep Foundation also recommends incorporating natural light into your daily routine to encourage a well-established sleep-wake cycle. The foundation also discourages reading and watching television in bed.
Surely hitting the snooze button is a good thing, right?
According to the journal Sleep, hitting the snooze button to catch a few more winks is bad for you as it creates fragmented sleep, which is not restorative. Kello proposes to fix this problem by limiting the number of times you can hit the snooze button every week. Once you’ve hit your limit, your alarm will ring louder, your playlist will change, or the lights will even come on.
Kello is available for preorder staring to today.
