A woman displays a prototype model of the "Sleep Doctor" pillow
© AFP Yoshikazu TsunoTOKYO (AFP) - The pillow called Sleep Doctor analyzes slumber patterns and subsequently provides 40 kinds of advice and encouragement on a miniature screen.
The pillow, made of soft urethane fabric, has sensors measuring head and body movements to calculate how much "pleasant sleep" you've had on a scale of 30 to 95 percent.
"If you've been sleeping badly for several days, the pillow will tell you, for example, 'Why don't you take it easy tonight. Try taking a long bath,'" says Naomi Adachi, head of Lofty, a company that sells the product designed by Japan's Sleep Research Institute.
"Or else on good sleeping days, it will bombard you with things like, 'You've been sleeping great, keep it up.'"
The pillow can also record sleeping patterns over a two-week period.
"By doing so, the person becomes aware of sleeping habits, and if it's bad, tries to improve it."
"But this pillow is not designed for you to fall asleep easier of better," warns Adachi.
"It is designed to make people develop good sleeping habits. It's a tool to help people discipline themselves to take better care of themselves."
The company plans to sell the pillow in September in Japan and overseas, including parts of Asia and North America.
Japan has one of the highest rates of sleep deprivation in the world because of long working hours. A recent study said sleep deprivation and insomnia costs the Japanese economy 3.5 trillion yen (30.7 billion dollars) a year, mainly in lost productivity.
©AFP