Need a nap? You are not alone, the busy lifestyles of modern day warriors are becoming more and more sleep deprived. Naps are now more important than ever. So much in fact, that new innovations aiming specifically at naps have been surfacing on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Just a quick nap has been proven to boost your alertness, productivity, mood, creativity, and cognitive abilities, while lowering stress hormones in your body. To understand how this is possible, lets summarize what constitutes a nap.
The Perfect Nap
In short, sleep consists of 5 unique stages. Stage 1 & 2 are categorized as light sleep where your heart rate slows and your body temperature drops in preparation for deep sleep. Once you enter stage 3, or the deep sleep stage, it becomes difficult to wake. In many cases, you will feel even more groggy then before you started to nap. The key to a perfect nap is to gain the benefits of sleeping, but wake just before entering deep sleep.
Where Naptime and Nuvi Are Similar
From a structural and design perspective, both are designed to be comfortable even with extended use. Nearly identical memory foam padding with large eye cavities to prevent contact with the eyes and lashes wrapped in soft breathable fabric. Naptime and Nuvi help the wearer fall asleep faster through HD stereo speakers with soothing sounds, binaural beats, or tracks of choice. In terms of comfort and the technology to begin sleeping, and setting alarms to take you gently, they are nearly identical – but that is where the similarities end.
How Naptime Works
Naptime's key differentiating feature is the implementation of dry EEG electrodes into the formula. EEG electrodes are used to monitor brain activity and can accurately determine which sleep stage you are in. This is important because Naptime's algorithm will play certain sounds to maximize the current sleep stage. For example, once you are sleeping, Naptime will begin playing white noise to help reduce interrupting distractions. Since Naptime knows which sleep stage you are in, Naptime's algorithms will pick the best point in your sleep cycle to wake you up refreshed.
How Nuvi Works
Nuvi's key differentiating feature are the 4 RGB LED lights embedded in the eye mask. From these specially programmed lights, Nuvi is able to provide different programs that the user can select. Nuvi can provide a "Light Energizer" by showing only the blue light while you nap, to a programmed formula to prevent jet lags. In addition, Nuvi is completely wireless and connects to your smartphone through Bluetooth. This means a wire free experience promising over 1 week of battery life on a single charge.
Why Naps Matters
Everyday there are more devices and technologies trying to increase our quality of life through maximizing sleep. But the bigger problem is the reduced amount of sleep. Technologies such as Naptime and Nuvi are paving an industry refocusing on a growing necessity – to guarantee the effectiveness of our naps. Next time you rest your head down for a power nap, you might be reaching for a Naptime or Nuvi soon. Naptime is available for pre-order through their crowdfunding page on Indiegogo and will be shipping by May of 2017. Nuvi has already completed their crowdfunding on Kickstarter and will be shipping as early as February of 2017.