Reset...

I'm not a big traveller - my friends are often shocked to hear that not only have I not been out of the UK, but I also don't own a passport...shock horror! This isn't because I don't want to gho abroad or that I'm scared of flying or a growing carbon footprint. It's more that as a kid I was in a family of 5 and holidays abroad are expensive and when I go to the wonderful places around the world, I want to go somewhere special, when it can be special and not a moonlight flit where you come home more exhausted than when you left. Is it any wonder people always say they need a holiday to get over the holiday?

Anyway, researchers in Australian have been developing a set of glasses to help combat the trouble that more frequent flyings that I have with jetlag and other people have with insomnia by re-calibrating our biological clock with LED lights. By beaming light directly into the eye of the wearer the battery powered glasses helps to reset the body clock or circadian rhythm which is our bodies response to the sun, moon and seasonal changes which is what makes us wake up and become alert in the morning and feel sleepy at night.

They have also been used in the treatment of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which normally involves the use of a light box or lamp which the sufferer sits in front of with their eyes open - though not staring directly at the light - for a prescribed period. The glasses allow the user to stop being inhibited by the stationary nature of the light box and the ability to

Re-Time glasses are still in development for commercial use by Flinders Meditech and I just thought that the use of LEDs was really interesting. For more information on the use of light for resetting the body clock see Flinders University: School of Psychology who did extensive research into their use.