For the last few months we’ve been experimenting with a sleep light from Lumie. I suspect you’ve seen them, but the idea is that they glow gradually lighter to try and mimic the sun rising each morning to ensure you stay attuned to your circadian rhythm. The process is usually accompanied by birds tweeting or the sound of waves gently crashing on the shore.
It is, of course, merely anecdotal, but the early evidence is positive, and I feel that I’m significantly more alert during these dark winter months.
Better sleep, better health
The benefits of better sleep are well known, and good rest is often as important to the healing process as the various medicines and treatments you receive in hospital. Alas, with the bright lights and beeping machinery, good quality sleep is not always easy to achieve.
Enter HealWell, a new product developed by Philips, that aims to improve both the sleep patterns of patients, and their overall wellbeing. It’s primarily been used to date in clinical trials, and it has been clinically proven to be effective.
It uses dynamic LED lights to try and mimic the natural daylight patterns in each patient’s room, with the aim being to provide a more natural setting than the often harsh and artificial seeming rooms you find in hospitals.
Just as with the Lumie light I use at home, the lights brighten gradually to replicate the sun rise each morning, before then doing likewise in the evenings to replicate the sun setting.
The lights are capable of being adjusted to the neds of each patient, and staff are able to override the system should they need sufficient lighting to perform procedures.
I’ve looked previously at lighting systems that claim to manage bacteria levels, and this is another intelligent use of something that is present in all hospitals to help the healing process.
The system is already present at the Bradford Royal Infirmary and the German Heart Institute, and Philips hope to roll it out in many other institutions in due course.
Check out the video below to see HealWell in action.
