SNOOZE NEWS stuff you can use
The future of sleep:
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Intelligent PJs & interactive dreams? Two decades from now, we’ll still need eight hours of sleep a night, but our sleep environments will be decidedly high tech, according to British futurologist Ian Pearson, who spent six months thinking about the impact of technology on sleep and how that might reshape bedrooms and hotel rooms of the future for U.K. hotel chain Travelodge. “On average, we spend a third of our lives asleep and this will still be the case in 2030,” Pearson says. “Technology will not change our basic need to slumber but it will certainly enhance the experience, enabling sleep to have much greater value than merely rest and recuperation.” Among Pearson’s predictions from the “Travelodge Future of Sleep” study: ● Dream management systems will allow sleepers to replay favorite dreams, just like choosing a movie. We’ll also be able to link to dreams of our friends and family to enjoy a shared experience. ● Intelligent sleepwear and bed linens will be able to produce smells or gently massage sleepers, playing a role in making dreams seem real. By 2030, sleepwear also will feature electro-responsive fabrics to measure stress and relaxation rates, pulse, blood pressure and heart signals. (Maybe mattresses, too?) ● “Active” contact lenses will allow sleepers to watch TV or movies or check emails as they fall asleep. The lenses will deliver high-quality 3D images directly to the retina. ● Sleep-cycle alarms will monitor the electrical activity in the brain and identify the best time for a sleeper to wake up, ensuring her sleep cycle is complete. Read more about the study at www.travelodge.co.uk.
Zits
Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all,
”
is a form of planning.
— Gloria Steinem
“Zits” used with the permission of the Zits Partnership, King Features and the Cartoonist Group. All rights reserved.
www.sleepsavvymagazine.com
SleepSavvy • November/December 2011
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