Cheero’s Sleepion helps promote and maintain a restful sleep using sound, light and pleasant aromas. (via Kickstarter)
For some like me, getting a restful sleep involves a nightly ritual of downing melatonin or valerian root pills, turning on a fan or other white noise generator and watching TV. Using that combination doesn’t always result in achieving REM sleep, which can make it difficult to get through the next day. The market is currently flooded with a myriad of options to help get people the rest they need- specialized mattresses, ear plugs, medications, white noise generators, eye masks, even rest-inducing pillows.
Tech start-up Cheero feels it has a one-stop solution that will not only help users fall asleep but maintain a deep REM cycle as well with their Sleepion device, which was designed to play on a host of senses to achieve a restful slumber. The senses in question include sight, sound and smell, all contained in a rather small package.
When it comes to sound, the Sleepion comes with pre-loaded with the typical white noise sounds found on most other generators, however it also comes with natural sounds as well, including prenatal loops. Yeah, you read that correctly- it contains breathing and other sounds that simulate being ‘in the womb’ and according to Cheero, the sounds have strong healing effects that have been verified in studies.
The Sleepion’s light generation was designed to simulate moonlight and flickers like a candle, thereby regulating our biological rhythms.
For our sense of sight, Cheero outfitted the Sleepion with LED lighting that flickers like a candle and is as bright as the moon. The designers modeled their lighting based on Professor Norinaga Shimizu’s (Osaka Prefecture University) findings after a 30-year study of Eubiotics, which finds that moonlight can actually help regulate our internal biological rhythms, including sleep cycles.
The aromas- lavender, cedar and geranium oils are infused into the ‘O’ stone and are circulated through the room using the back pressure from the device’s speakers.
For the sense of smell, the Sleepion is outfitted with a porous ceramic ‘aroma’ stone, which users infuse with any one of three scented oils- lavender, cedar or geranium. Unlike incense or other aroma diffusers, heat isn’t used to circulate the scent as back pressure produced by the device’s speakers push air through the porous stone thereby circulating it throughout the room. The stone itself is magnetically connected to the Sleepion and can be used in both the horizontal or vertical position.
All three sense applications can be programmed to run at certain times or left in a continuous loop depending on the user’s needs. Suffice it to say however, it may not be a one-stop solution for everybody as each individual is different when it comes to what works to achieve a restful sleep.
For me personally, the light and aroma diffuser would have to go as I find them somewhat irritating when going to sleep but others may prefer them. For those that do, Cheero is crowd-funding the Sleepion on Kickstarter and a pledge of $170 or more will net you one in five different colors, which should reach your door sometime in March of this year.
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