Would You Wear These Futuristic Specs To Help You Sleep?

We all know sleep deprivation is hell on earth — a form of torture that reduces its victims to docile zombies with little desire to do anything other than SLEEP. Histrionics aside, lack of sleep is a serious issue, one that affects a quarter of the U.K.'s populace. For those of us blighted with this affliction, the news of any sort of remedy is immediately welcomed. Introducing the Re-Timer glasses, an odd-looking pair of spectacles that aims to aid the wearer in getting a decent night's sleep.

The product was first formulated by researchers at Flinders University in Australia and its principal aim is to reduce jet-leg. It works by emitting a green light directly into the wearer's eyes, stimulating the area of the brain that controls the internal body clock. By wearing the contraption for 50 minutes in the morning for three or four days in a row, one should be able to re-wire the internal body clock and fall asleep at a reasonable hour.

In the Metro article about this device, the tester of the Re-Timer seems to react positively to the experience, though the time spent wearing the specs in the morning is an issue. Is this a real alternative to sleeping pills and herbal remedies? Dr. Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre suggests: "While the glasses won’t switch sleep on, when insomnia is caused by the internal clock running at the wrong time, the glasses open up the opportunity to fall into the sleep pattern you want, allowing you to wake up in the mornings and feel more sleepy in the evenings." Sounds like a dream come true — even if we do have to look like Four Eyes to get it. (Metro)