Is there any worse a feeling than the fatigue caused by a poor night’s sleep? The recommended sleep needed by adults is supposed to average between 7 – 9 hours, yet, in a recent study by the American Sleep Association, 35.3% of adults report getting less than 7 hours of sleep during a typical 24-hour period. We don’t even have to tell you about the millions of deaths caused yearly by sleep deprivation to confirm that sleep is a necessary part of the human condition and one company – Dodow – wants to help you fall asleep faster and get a better night’s rest with their simple but effective sleep aid device.

Most disrupted sleep comes from anxiety and stress, often brought on by challenging days at work, chronic worry, over-thinking, anticipation of the alarm clock or ironically fear that you won’t sleep. In fact, fear is not only a psychological phenomenon. Fear and stress activate what is called an alert state, a physiological mechanism characterized by a hyper activation of the autonomic nervous system. Neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine are released, which keeps you alert and awake.

The premise behind Dodow is quite brilliant, it sits on your bedside table and is touch activated. A light pulse is then emitted from the device at a slow and steady rhythm that helps you calm yourself and synchronize your breathing akin to a hypnotic state. Thus, after a few minutes you can let go and sleep. By breathing long enough at the Dodow rhythm (6 respirations per minute), you stimulate the baroreflex, a small physiological mechanism that restores the balance of the autonomic nervous system and brings you into a resting state.

The advantage of the Dodow is that this is an effective natural and non-medical way to induce sleep in people suffering from sleep deprivation. However, don’t let this bedside hockey puck fool you, there is some serious science backing this up. In fact, this method combines meditation (concentration on breathing), yoga (slow breathing and focusing on abdominal breathing), and Behavioral cognitive therapy (paradoxical intention) to maximize the probability of success and allow the user to sleep better and to regain confidence in his or her ability to sleep.

So, does it work? Our team each took their turn with the Dodow device and attempted to use it during nights of feeling overstimulated before sleep or suffered from acute periodical insomnia and the results were surprising. We were skeptical that such a conceptually unassuming device would work as advertised in its promise of getting you to sleep 2.5 times faster but every single team member that tried the device said that it was the most effective sleep aid besides drugs they had ever used.

To conclude, what does the cost of a good night sleep cost these days? Well, about $59 because that is what the Dodow currently costs and as some would argue, you just can’t pay a high enough price for peace of mind.

Get yours at www.mydodow.com