About 50 students from years 9-11 have been given Lumie Bodyclock Starter 30, an alarm clock that wakes you with light, to trial at home over the coming month. They have already completed a survey to establish their current sleep/wake patterns, sleep quality, general mood and levels of energy and concentration during the day. They will then be asked to fill in a second survey after two weeks with a view to measuring improvements in their ability to wake up on time, to be alert and able to concentrate throughout the school day as well as seeing if their general mood improves.
Questions are also being included for parents in order to get their viewpoint and also to find out if they see an improvement as a result of their child using Lumie Bodyclock. The timing is particularly pertinent for the year 11s as the project will run during mock exams when their stress levels are expected to be higher with a knock on effect on their sleep, mood and energy.
Lumie Bodyclock Starter is a wake-up light that offers a 30 minute sunrise so if for example you want to wake up at 7am, it starts to come on from 6.30 am, simulating a gradual sunrise. By 7am the light should have woken you gently but there’s an optional alarm beep for heavy sleepers. At bedtime, you can use the 30 minute sunset to help you relax and prepare for a good night’s sleep. It’s best if no electronic devices are used in the last hour before bedtime as they have an alerting affect. In clinical trials, ‘dawn simulators’ such as Bodyclock have been shown to improve mood, energy, productivity and the quality of sleep and awakening especially in the dark winter months*.
Jonathan Cridland, CEO, Lumie, said: “Lumie is delighted to have the opportunity to run this light therapy project with Chesterton Community College in Cambridge. Research tells us that teenagers’ body clocks tend to shift forwards making it hard for them to wake up on time and then feel alert in the mornings. We look forward to seeing how Lumie Bodyclock helps these students especially on these dark winter mornings when getting up is a struggle for so many.”
Lucy Scott, Principal, Chesterton Community College, added:“Chesterton Community College recognises the importance of building strong links with local businesses for the benefits of its students. We’re therefore delighted to have this opportunity to work with Lumie on this exciting light therapy project. It's recognised that stress levels can be high during mock exams, adversely affecting sleep, mood and energy, so it would be great if the clocks can have a positive impact on this.”
*Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1993 Jul;88 (1):67-71
Lumie
Since 1991 Lumie has been researching and designing bright lights to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and other conditions. Our first Bodyclock dawn simulator – an alarm that wakes you up with increasing levels of light – was the world’s first wake-up light and brought light therapy into the mainstream. We also designed and developed Lumie Clear, a unique hand held device that uses combined blue and red light therapy to treat acne.
Over the years Lumie has worked closely with the scientific community. All of our products – the broadest range in Europe – are based on published research and designed by us from our base in Cambridge. Lumie is in the EuRhythDia consortium investigating circadian rhythms and type 2 diabetes, and is working with Liverpool John Moores University sports science department. We continue to research new applications for light therapy.
Lumie products are medical devices, certified to the Medical Devices Directive (93/42EEC)and supplied to the NHS on an occasional basis. Distance and brightness levels (lux) are independently verified and Lumie is registered with the government's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.
The benefits of light therapy reach far beyond SAD. Our lights help you to sleep well and get up in the morning, beat the afternoon slump, conquer jetlag and look after your skin. They also optimise sports performance and we are proud to provide lights to some of Great Britain’s elite athletes as well as acting as official suppliers to British Swimming.
Two of our wake-up lights, Active and Elite, provide white noise as an option. If you are trying to sleep in a noisy environment or during the day, white noise helps to muffle other sounds, like traffic or people talking.
In the UK our products are available through www.lumie.com as well as major retailers like John Lewis, Boots, Amazon, Selfridges and wiggle.co.uk and we have an expanding network of distributors across Europe and in North America. For consumers buying through www.lumie.com we provide a home trial on all products and a dedicated customer careline.
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Contact:
Ruth Jackson, PR Manager, Lumie
Tel: 01954 786115
Mob: 07914 812261
www.lumie.com
Facebook: Lumie.light.therapy
Twitter: @lumie_lights
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