Working irregular hours, living through the winter months and traveling to different time zones can greatly affect your mood and productivity. Studies have shown that you can readjust your sleeping pattern using light therapy.
Re-Timer is a wearable device that delivers light therapy to help you sleep better. Developed based on 25 years of research in the School of Psychology at Flinders University in Australia, Re-Timer regulates your body clock by directing 100 percent UV-free light directly into the photoreceptors of your eyes.
During this year’s World Cup, Australia’s head of sports science Dr Craig Duncan introduced Re-Timer to the Socceeroos and the players successfully used them while flying long-haul to help their body clocks adjust to different time zones.
How does re-timer work?
Re-timer is a lightweight frame that looks like eyeglasses. You wear it over your eyes. Inside the frame, there is a row of LED lights with the right color and brightness which can quickly set your circadian clock. You have 2 brightness options, and the green light works well for older eyes too, without the glare or discomfort that an equally bright white or blue light would cause.
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How you use your Re-Timer depends on what you want to do. You wear them for about 30 minutes at a time. When you put on the glasses press a switch and it’ll turn on the light. It uses green LEDs along the bottom, they shoot just below the iris to simulate natural light.
Re-Timer is perfectly safe.
When traveling, you may want some time in the morning to do your own work before leaving for office. This means you need to see the right kind of bright light when you wake up, so you will need to wear it first thing in the morning. The next day, it’ll get your body ready to wake up a little earlier. You’ll need to keep wearing them for 30 minutes until you’ve reached your desired wake-up time.
Your sleep health and overall well being depends on your sleep rhythm and remaining synchronized with night and day. Light is one of the most important factors to keep your sleep cycle healthy.
For example, you do not receive light at the right times due to the winter months, this confuses your sleep rhythm leaving you unable to sleep when you need. This in turn causes a low mood experienced in winter known as the winter blues.
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The company’s website offers a jet lag calculator and a sleep timing calculator, and there’s even a Re-Timer Fitbit app for measuring your results. Simply answer a few questions about your current waking hours and your desired waking hour, and you get a customized timing schedule. Most people are able to alter their sleep/awakes routine in just a few days.
