While turning the clocks back one hour this weekend for Daylight Savings may not seem like too ... [+]
We all dread it. The twice annual time change. It overtly or subliminally disrupts sleep patterns whether you lose or gain that hour especially when it gets darker an hour earlier.
According to the Sleep Foundation, “adjusting the time by one hour may not seem like too drastic a change, but sleep experts have noted troubling trends that occur during the transition between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time. These include upticks in heart problems, mood disorders, and motor vehicle collisions. Daylight Saving Changes can also cause sleep problems if circadian rhythms are not aligned with natural cycles of light and darkness. Some people also experience insomnia symptoms due to time changes.
Loftie, the new wellness company, recently revolutionized the outdated alarm clock and created a sleep/wake system based on science. The impetuous was to help consumers decrease (phone) screen time with the goal of giving sleep deprived, overstimulated techies a way to address the issue because “the world is a stressful place but your bedroom doesn’t have to be.”
Lofite, Co-Creative Director Lindsay Rodabaugh and the brand’s Breathwork Instructor Kathleen Kulikowski along with their team did a significant volume of interviews following the IDEO method (a human-thinking approach to design), and found very interesting information about people's bedroom routines and tech habits so the company could start making a more positive impact.
The result was a complete revamping of a very overlooked home device, the alarm clock. The objective was to use the product as a platform to talk about much broader issues of tech/life balance and the growing tech backlash, but in a solution oriented light.
The first step is to practice good sleep hygiene which is the practice of influencing sleep for better or worse. In order to ease the transition of the time change, common sense basics include avoiding caffeine up to four hours before bedtime and refraining from consuming alcohol, heavy dinners and snacks before bedtime due to the negative impact.
Practicing good sleep hygiene can ease the time change disruption as well as positively impact your ... [+]
Besides revising eating and drinking routines, Rodabaugh and Kulikowski shared the top five ways to also immediately adjust your sleep habits to get over the time change, reduce election stress, and experience a better night’s sleep by weaning your technology dependence.
Less Screen, More Dream. Rodabaugh counseled, “Don’t look for massive changes. By simply limiting your screen time for 2 hours before going to bed and 1 hour after waking up, this will help create new boundaries that give you more control over technology. It tells your brain when it’s time to wind down and wake up, and creates more calm and space in your life. It’s a small win that has important effects.” Since it’s a new life habit, adapt this gradually. Going cold turkey lowers the success ratio. Loftie even has a two phase alarm to signal bedtime to help with the process.
Put Your Phone To Bed For the Night. You have a bed, so maybe your phone should too. It’s a great concept and the new Loftie alarm clock actually has a custom space for your phone to help with the process. Rodabaugh shared “that numerous studies show that simply having our phones in sight significantly hinders our cognitive ability and capacity to complete linear tasks - like going to bed. So even if we’re not getting texts or emailing, just knowing our phone is within reach is a brain drain along with blue light. It has been shown to hinder our brains’ ability to produce melatonin and give us that sleepy feeling.”
Remember, the phone is sneaky. It packs a lot of features into a sleek design. And also, a lot of stress into a small package that goes everywhere with you. Pretty much your entire life is accessible via your phone. So everywhere you go, all that stress comes along too. So when you bring it into the bedroom, it’s kinda like bringing your whole office, social world, and family in there too. Not very relaxing.
Have A Backup Plan. Change is tricky. It’s tempting to check your phone before bed and right when you wake up. Loftie users have access to a suite of relaxing content designed to help with just this sort of phone-craving moment with a suite of content that was created to help get centered, relaxed, and calm at bedtime as a way to wind down.
Brands like the OnePlus smartphone are offering new, proactive ways to promote and enhance digital ... [+]
Other brands, like the new OnePlus 8 , OnePlus 8Pro , OnePlus 8T ultra-premium smartphones, are also offering new, proactive ways to promote and enhance personal wellness. Both OnePlus phones include a proprietary Zen Mode, an exclusive feature that allows users to maintain digital wellness. It works by temporarily shutting down phones to unwind, spend time with friends and family and be fully present without digital distractions including a Group Zen Mode, to invite friends (even non-OnePlus Users) to come together and stay focused as a group on the conversation or task at hand. You can use it during the day and also as a way to wind down and get ready for bedtime.
Quiet Mind, Deep Sleep. According to Kathleen Kulikowski, Loftie’s Breathwork Instructor, “In order to fall asleep faster and deeper, the mind must be quiet. If we are on our phones, scrolling through content on social media or emails right before we try to sleep, our brain is still stimulated. With breathwork, Kulikowski advises, “we can easily turn the brain off and drop into the body.”
Develop a Practice. By making breathwork a practice, your body will start to trust you. It will feel ready to fall asleep because ‘you’ say so. The hardest part of life sometimes becomes that struggle between what the mind is saying versus what the body knows and is trying to tell us. If you can drop in and listen, you can live a more grounded, nurtured life filled with deep and restful sleep.
Finally, especially with the time change, try and establish a consistent sleep routine, “spend time outdoors since natural light is a driving force behind our circadian rhythms as it can alleviate feelings of tiredness during the day,” and be sure to only nap in moderation of 20 minute intervals only.
All these best practices came full circle with input from Rodabaugh on the design of the Loftie which had a 4,000 person wait list for its recent launch and also just debuted on GOOP. It incorporates a dimmable display, nightlight, two-phase alarm, and custom content playable right on the device, including guided meditations, sound baths, breathwork exercises, sleep playlists, plus a variety of relaxing sounds. What it doesn’t do is equally important: connect to email, apps, and social media, with all the anxiety they bring along to keep tech and life in balance. The perfect checklist for the time change.
