Beating jetlag seems to be a never-ending battle for travelers, especially if the trip involves long layovers or multiple times zones, and especially if it involves both. Delta Airlines is now advertising a new method to do just that. It is called a Photon Shower and was demonstrated at the recent TED2013 conference in California.
The Photon Shower can minimize jet lag to help travelers recover from a long flight by using light therapy to increase alertness and reduce jet lag. It was built by the agency Wieden+Kennedy New York with input from Dr. Russell Foster, a sleep expert.
Users can input their travel data onto a touch screen, according to a report from Fast Company. Then, narration and ambient sound guides them through the custom-tailored experience. They then receive what is essentially a "shower" of blue light streams over the use, resulting in an effect designed to mimic that of bright sunshine, thereby resetting the body's internal clock.
There currently aren't any plans to set up the Photon Showers in airports, but Delta is considering their possibilities.
Previously, Paris-Orly and Paris-Charles de Gaulle offered free light therapy sessions to winter travelers back in 2007. That device exposed travelers to full-spectrum light that mimicked sunlight, which has been found beneficial for both jet lag and what people tend to call the "winter blues," what doctors call seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the illness that takes the prize for the most appropriate acronym.
The airports set up large, igloo-shaped stations with specialized therapeutic lamps from Philips Energy Light, including relaxation chairs and calming music, as well as massages.
The service was set up as a promotional campaign for Be Relax, an airport boutique offering light therapy year round that was opening up.
The Photon Showers may be used as a device to ensure passengers can sleep on their planes with en route to their destinations.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
