As dead as a dodo – that’s a good thing right?
I mean I guess that deepest kind of sleep possible and perhaps that’s why the device I’ve been using is called this…
On that note – here’s the Dodow!
It’s essentially a glowing dot that slowly pulses and the idea is that you stare at your ceiling whilst syncing your breathing with the expanding and contracting blue light. Focusing on the light is basically a shortcut to mediation; which for many people can be either tough to do or too time consuming (mainly to learn).
I know I find meditation tough but I have given it a good go – I’ve joined mediation groups, read articles tried various apps on my phone. I just can’t seem to relax without fidgeting so I won’t lie I was excited and sceptical of the idea, especially after years of being told ‘BLUE LIGHT RUINS SLEEP’, but Dodow (as in the company) claim that it has little to no effect and that end users didn’t like the red option (I remember reading this somewhere but can’t find a link). I understand this but with RGB LEDS being cheap and easy to implement I think this was a bad design choice – you’ll see why later in this article.
They have bold claims and make the statement ‘on average our users fall asleep 2.5x faster’. Sounds great, I could do with that. They also have a fair bit of information on their website about the science behind it, studies that have been conducted (both primary and secondary research) so it all seems to add up to something great so I bought one – especially with their 100 day money back guarantee!
The design is nice…
…it feels premium but you’re definitely paying for the design – remember it’s an LED inside a plastic box – £1 of materials priced at £42. Don’t worry, I know there is more than just production costs that go in to a product, they’ve conducted a lot of research and spent a good amount of time and money on the design, but £42! Come on, there are limits to these things – I see it as a £15 item – max.
Anyway, unboxing it reveals (again) great design and lots of information – I like the manual that comes with it as it’s full of info about how the device aims to combat sleep problems. It comes with batteries so you’re all ready to go. A single press on the touch sensitive device gets it up, running and me staring at a blue dot in no time.
You have a choice of 8 or 20 minute sessions (press twice for 20 mins) but it’s the same breathing either way.
I really wished they changed the pulse length and it felt way too short. I know this is highly dependant on who you are as a person and that’s exactly why it’s an issue. The pulse length is similar to if I’ve just been for a walk, not when I’m sleeping and as such I found it disruptive to carry on at this pace.
To link back earlier in this article about the light – I can’t help feel blue is a poor decision. I get what they say about blue being the colour of choice and it’d seem (according to their page on Amazon.com in the Q&A) that they’ve conducted some trials with different colours and blue worked best. But how big was this trial? Do we know the reason behind someone’s insomnia in the first place? Perhaps I’m probing too much – all I know is light is a killer for any hope of sleep with me and the whiter it is, the worse the issue. Perhaps this is psychology rather than physiology? I associate blue with being awake – it’s a vibrant colour in any environment. Red or a warm orange is relaxing to me and as such I’d associate it with these feelings. An RGB LED would be a simple fix for this and perhaps could be seen in a revised design?
I really wanted to like this product, they’ve conducted a lot of research and I love the design, it feel’s modern and elegant but it’d seem that it was all bark and no bite. i.e. looks good but does nothing.
Every night I would press the top of the Dodow twice to give me a full 20 minutes of staring at a glowing dot but as much as I tried to sync my breath and concentrate on this I found that it actually made me more wide awake. Eventually when the Dodow turned off I’d then have a good hour or two with my mind now buzzing, which was far from ideal.
In the end I think I have to chalk this down to the same conclusion for all the other sleep related products – not for me but could work for someone else. It might be worth the try as they give you a 100 day money back guarantee and it really was a no quibbles return! Just expect to spend around £10 to ship back to France from the UK.