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Sleep

CalmSpace sleep capsule for office power naps

By Dave Parrack
November 04, 2012
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CalmSpace is a self-contained sleep capsule designed for offices, providing workers with a place to power nap for up to 20 minutes at a time
CalmSpace is a self-contained sleep capsule designed for offices, providing workers with a place to power nap for up to 20 minutes at a time
CalmSpace features an immersive environment comprised of sound and light designed to aid the process of power napping
CalmSpace features an immersive environment comprised of sound and light designed to aid the process of napping
CalmSpace is a self-contained sleep capsule designed for offices, providing workers with a place to power nap for up to 20 minutes at a time
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The rejuvenating power of naps has been known about for some time, with various studies showing that even a short nap can increase alertness. While a nap of around two hours is of most benefit as it encompasses all stages of sleep, a power nap of up to 30 minutes is certainly better than nothing. It's not long enough for you to enter deep sleep (and consequently risk feeling worse than before), but it's long enough to take the edge off your need to actually go to bed. Whether such evidence would ever be enough to persuade a company to provide designated areas for workers to sleep is unclear, but CalmSpace exists for that very purpose.

CalmSpace was designed by Marie-Virginie Berbet, originally as a prototype for France Telecom, but is now a finished product for office furniture brand Haworth. It's a self-contained, plug-and-play sleep capsule optimized to create the perfect environment for tired office workers to catch some shuteye. CalmSpace was launched at the Orgatec 2012 trade fair held recently in Cologne.

Each CalmSpace capsule contains a single mattress on which the office worker is invited to lie down. A combination of light and sound is designed to send the person ensconced within CalmSpace off to sleep, before waking them up gently after an allotted time. The sequences are pre-set for 10-, 15-, and 20-minute naps. The orange light is designed to help people drop off to sleep, while the blue light wakes them up in as natural a way as possible in such unnatural surroundings.

CalmSpace features an immersive environment comprised of sound and light designed to aid the process of power napping

As well as preventing people falling asleep at their desks or burning out, power naps boast some other alleged health benefits. They can reduce stress and raise brain power and productivity levels. While many forward-thinking companies are providing areas for employees to collectively relax and take time out, very few are providing environments for individuals to actually get some sleep in.

CalmSpace sits comfortably alongside the Sleepbox and Podtime sleeping pods already featured on Gizmag. And if the company you work for won't shell out the money needed to buy one of these units, there's always the Ostrich pillow to fall back on.

Source: MVBerbet via Dezeen

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SleepHealthFurnitureSleepOffice
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Dave Parrack
Dave is a technology journalist with a ravenous appetite for gadgets, gizmos, and gubbins. He's based in the UK, and from his center of operations writes about all facets of modern and future technology. He has learned more in his five years writing for the Web than he did in 11 years at school, and with none of the boring subjects thrown in to the mix.
7 comments
Jonathan Collier
Is there any science behind the use of orange light to induce sleep? As a shift worker I often struggle to get a decent 'days' sleep, I'm more interested in this as a counter-measure for the effects shift work.
Charlie Channels
I think I know the reason why companies don't install these "sleepboxes": you can be sure that workers will find a way to get in together with a partner and engage in some sort of intercourse... Of course that could be even more relaxing, but somehow I don't think companies will approve ! (sounds great, though...)
Dawar Saify
With today's budgeting and cut backs, and economic conditions, no company can afford to give workers the luxury.
Jeff Wilson
To Dawar;
Google workers have similar units and the money to pay for them.
kilgatron
Even with evidence that shows that workers perform better with naps and rest, the Protestant Work Ethic, or as I will refer to it here, The Protestant Heart Attack Ethic, will not permit such "indulgence."
Why can't we just use rugs like we did in kindergarten?
nutcase
Absolutely ridiculous. Managers will not countenance sleeping on the job unless it is them doing it. That is why they are behind the closed door and the venetian blinds and you are out in the cube-farm.
Brian Peabody
This is out of synch with my bedside clock, that illuminates blue when I sleep, but orange to awaken me (bright when the alarm sounds, and a dim orange when I've hit the snooze button.)
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