Recent Zzzzz News:

Take off your sleep-tinted glasses

What's your view of the world? Has it been looking greenish lately? Ever wonder if you see things differently - not just feel crappy, or sluggish, or slo-mo - when you've been short-changing the amount of sleep you get? And yes, there's some real sleep research into lack of sleep and how it 'colors' your view of the world. We found out from our buddies over at the COLOURlovers blog.


Image credit: Sofia Cordova Vega

Color perception drifts away from neutrality during wakefulness and is restored during sleep. A research abstract about how sleep can color your world was presented at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC. Results indicate that prior wakefulness caused the color gray to be classified as having a slightly but significantly greenish tint. Overnight sleep restored perception to achromatic equilibrium so that gray was perceived as gray. According to the authors, scientists had not previously investigated how sleep might affect the way we view the world around us.

"This is among the first studies to investigate the effects of sleep on perception," said principal investigator and lead author Bhavin Sheth, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston in Texas. "Our findings suggest that wakefulness causes color classification to drift away from neutrality, and sleep restores color classification to neutral."

The study involved five people who viewed a full-field image of either slightly reddish or greenish hue. The observers had to judge whether the image was greener or redder than their internal perception of neutral gray. Across trials the hue was varied. One pair of tests was performed just before participants went to sleep, and testing was repeated after participants slept for an average of 7.7 hours.

So, yes, sleep may indeed color your view of the world. . .
The SLEEP 2010 abstract supplement is available for download at http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstractSupplement.aspx.

A joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, the annual SLEEP meeting brings together an international body of more than 5,000 leading clinicians and scientists in the fields of sleep medicine and sleep research. At SLEEP 2010 more than 1,100 research abstract presentations showcased new findings that contribute to the understanding of sleep and the effective diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep apnea.

Perfect nap zone

Looking for a cozy, comfy, ideal place to nap?
Here's our current fave; we love the squishy, jelly bean orange and green cushions that populate these cool sleep decks. They're like bean bag chairs that have morphed into comfortable, super-size pillows. The open airiness of this circular nap zone creates the perfect blend of feeling contained, yet aloft - better than a treehouse!


The only catch here? Well, unless you're in Denmark, one of our all time favorite world design capitals, you're out of luck. This nap zone is located at Ørestad College in Copenhagen.

Designed by a Danish architecture firm, 3XN, this beauty of an architectural design features four boomerang shaped storey decks that rotate in relation to each other like the shutter of a camera. They form the superstructure; the overall framework of the college, and provide space for the college’s four study zones - how cool is that?

The rotation of the storey decks projects a part of each deck into the high central hall. This part is the so called X-zone; a spatial expression of the colleges’ ambition "to promote interdisciplinary expertise between study zones with physical and visual links." Visit the architecture firm's webpage to view additional designs. Makes us want to hop on a plane and fly right to Denmark!

‘Tis a gift to be simple

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

- Joseph Brackett, Jr. Shaker Elder, Written in 1848

Patented technology, mathematical formulas, zero gravity contraptions, encoded waveforms, handmade $13,000 claustrophobia-inducing napping devices? Tough to believe it, but yes, expensive 'nap solutions' touting all of the above can be found in the commercial marketplace. Does getting to sleep have to be this complex?

Sometimes, simple solutions work best. Getting to sleep can be tough but it does not have to be expensive or complicated. Voice guided meditation has been used for thousands of years to help people relax. There's something about the power of a real human voice (ask any mother who is trying to coax a baby to sleep) speaking softly, with progressive relaxation and visualization techniques recommended by psychotherapists. Combine this with soothing acoustic music (not spooky space age sound waves or electronic noise) and you've just found something that will really help you erase all of the racing mental checklists from your head so you can nod off, stress free.

The Power Nap Kit™ (PNK) includes two CDs with spoken voice relaxations and music created by At Peace Music for health care providers such as massage therapists and bodywork professionals, who have a keen appreciation for the value of music that is truly relaxing, but not boring. At $14.99, the digital download version of the PNK provides over 2 hours of nap sessions, all of which can be easily and quickly added to your existing music collection on your smartphone, computer or mp3 player. It's simple, effective and did we mention, pill-free, caffeine-free and sugar-free?

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