Westin has partnered with Philips and a group of sleep doctors to create a “concept room” aimed at aiding sleep deprivation and cutting jet-lag recovery time in half. This hotel-room laboratory is currently being tested at the Westin Chicago River North.
Do you have to put the light on the back of your knee? I remember reading something about that as a trick for overcoming jet lag a while back.
But, really, there’s only so much a hotel room can do for you when you didn’t sleep at all on the eastbound flight bc the seat was so uncomfortable or some screaming child kept you up all night–you’re simply sleep deprived, not jetlagged. Here’s hoping for decent, free in-room coffee.
The concept room is equipped with Philips’ ActiViva lamps — revolutionary new blue-light lamps that provide high-quality lighting and directly affect the way people feel by supposedly making them feel more alert, awake and energized.
The lights, along with other cutting-edge amenities such as a guided-meditation TV program (it actually walks you through into a sleep experience) and a room-service menu filled with calming snacks such as a banana-milk smoothie, are being tested by Westin through a series of evaluations with travelers who have recently crossed two or more time zones. Window shades are custom blackout models. Other white-noise machines are also in the room.
There are oscillating fans, calming tea, and [a shower with] a high-intensity light that its manufacturer claims will reset your body clock. I appreciate the fact that hotels are thinking about this, and not just by offering customers cherry pie or offering jet lag advice like their airline counterparts. But this takes it up a notch. It’s very welcome.
And I kind want those shower lights for home.
Staying awake until a “normal” time for the local time zone is often a struggle, so travelers need all the help they can get. These innovations are welcome, even if some of them, individually, are corny. (Talking meditation machine, anyone?) Anti-jet-lag features would especially be a great feature at airport hotels — particularly since airport hotels are rarely inspiring spaces.
