Smart Sleep Pods: The Cure to Sleep Deprivation at Work
Sleep deprivation at the workplace is no joke. Millions of people around the world every day are sleeping throughout their work hours due to being tired. The main cause of this problem is due to people not getting enough sleep. Work fatigue can result in many problems for both the person sleeping and the company such as inefficient work productivity and lead to burnout.
Mattress company Amerisleep polled 1,001 Americans to see people’s sleep habits at work. Their results showed that 51.8% admitted to sleeping/napping during work hours. A whopping 70% of respondents who work on the tech industry admitted to sleeping during work hours, which ended up being the highest percentage out of all industries.
One solution that could help lower inefficient work focus and increase productivity would be the implementation of sleep pods. Many large companies such as Google, Cisco, and Zappos have implemented sleep pods into their offices. Many of these large companies encourage power napping and taking sleeping breaks throughout the workday to let their employees rest so they can return to work with more energy. Although taking power naps are recommended at these large companies, sleeping at most workplaces are highly looked down upon as it displays a poor work ethic. While employees at these large companies can sleep at designated sleep pod locations, employees at most offices end up falling asleep at their desks. Sleeping at work can cause one to incomplete work on time, show poor task results, unappealing to co-workers, and can even get you fired.
Most sleep pods range from $8000 to $12,000, making them an expensive item in the workplace. This is where the SmartPod comes in. Not only is the SmartPod inexpensive, but an upgrade over current sleep pods. The SmartPod retails for $3000 per unit, making it 62.5% cheaper than the lowest sleep pod price. Most sleep pods have zero to little technology in them, yet they are still expensive and only companies that have a large budget can buy them. The SmartPod has a large variety of technology built into each pod and offers the same comfort as current sleep pods models.
To start, the SmartPod is aesthetically pleasing and can fit into all types of locations and environments. It can be placed in lobbies of buildings, libraries, airports, and many more. With its simple design, it is clear to everyone that it is a SmartPod. The design of the SmartPod features a small tube, but large enough to fit people up to seven feet. The tube is made out of metal and features a white, sleek design on the outside. The tube sits at a 30-degree angle, as the pod’s purpose is for short sleep/power naps and is not trying to emulate a bed.
The pod features a large sliding door on the outside of the tube. The door can be opened through the touch screen on the outside, in which the door automatically opens and closes. After the door is opened, there is an opening in the tube for the user to get inside. There is an ergonomic shaped foam chair/mat inside the pod to relieve stress from the body. Once inside, a small touch screen tablet will pop out from the side of the tube which the user can adjust settings based on his/her preference.
The tablet acts as the hub and interface screen where the user can access every feature to the pod. The first thing that the user can adjust is the settings for waking up. The pod wakes up the user gently with calm music, slight vibration, and dim lights. Before going to sleep, the user can test each of these settings and can preview how each setting looks, sounds, and feel. The user can also set a timer up to a maximum of 30 minutes.
When the user starts his/her session, noise activation technology is activated to block out all noise from the outside. This is to ensure that the user gets good sleep and there are no distractions to interrupt it. If the user is needed for an important situation, he/she can be contacted through the touch screen located outside of the tube. The wake-up feature will activate to notify the user that someone is trying to contact them from the outside.
Many of these features are normal on current sleep pods, but there is still more to what makes SmartPod a “smart” device. What makes the SmartPod special is its user profile feature. Each user will have to register their account during their first use. The user’s information will be saved to their accounts. For example, when a user returns or uses a pod again, the settings from previous sleep sessions will be included so the user doesn’t have to waste time setting up his/her preferences.
Each user will have a profile to track statistics such as average sleep duration and frequency of sleep. After each session, statistics about the user will appear on the tablet to inform the user about the session. After a person uses the SmartPod on multiple occasions, a graph will show the history of the sessions in which the user can track if they increase or decrease sleep sessions and the time of day the sleep session occurs. These statistics are made to inform the user to let them track their sleep habits in which they can either change or work around them. It is important to let users know how often and what they are doing. If a person is constantly sleeping every day, it may show that he/she is not getting enough sleep and the data may show that the user is usually falling asleep during the late afternoons.
The statistics for each person are available through an application on a smartphone. Having user-profiles and being able to look at your profile on the go is extremely useful. For example, the sleep session can be worked around meetings and activities that may occur during the same time. Users can also check their profile on their commute or at home to track their progress and make changes to their habits.
The SmartPod is made to integrate into work systems. The SmartPod has its own application which can be downloaded on laptops and PCs, and be connected through wifi. One feature on the application is the schedule of the occupancy for the day. People can book times on the pod from their own devices. If someone is looking to use the pod but has not booked time, the application can send a notification to the user for when the pod is open. The application also shows who is using the pod, so co-workers know where others are when missing from their workspace. A user profile can be accessed from any pod as each pod authenticates a user through facial recognition and automatically activates the profile after confirming the user.
To implement these sleep pods, the barrier of taking naps and sleeping at work must be changed. With the lower price of these sleep pods, they make having naps in a professional setting more accessible. The lower price allows companies that couldn’t afford the high price tag of sleep pods to be able to have SmartPods at their workplace. Although there is still a negative light upon sleeping at work, the SmartPod can change this. With more SmartPods being implemented, the perception of sleeping at work will change once people see the effectiveness of power naps. Work efficiency will increase, employers will have more energy, and the work environment will be improved. Sleep pods won’t be a thing just for large corporations that can afford them. With SleepPods, everyone will be able to take a power nap and improve their lives.
