Pay S$2,700 for the pleasure of falling asleep to the calming hiss of a knockout gas escaping from a mechanical arm that hovers over your face
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbrxOAYtzFA&ab_channel=gosleep
Considering that it can neither be described as mobile nor a mobile phone, we are not quite sure what Gosleep was doing among the likes of Ericsson and Nokia at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show. In fact, the device, which is much too big to fit in even the deepest pockets, and features not a single communication functionality, is meant to stay very put, in the bedroom.
Nyx Inc, the company behind Gosleep, calls it “a practical sleep appliance that provides a direct sleep inducement effect for users”. To its credit, the firm seems very committed to delivering what it promises, because Gosleep is made to spray a fine mist of knockout gas – sorry – Sleep Air in your face.
Before your mind conjures up alarming images of being grabbed from behind with a chloroform-filled handkerchief placed over the nose, Sleep Air is just marketing spiel for purified air with a higher-than-normal concentration of carbon dioxide. It’s a much more familiar gas, and thus, less worrying, right?
A quick search on Google will reveal that concentrations of carbon dioxide above 10 per cent can lead to adverse health effects and even death; Nyx claims that the concentration in Sleep Air will never exceed 3 per cent. In addition, the mist of Sleep Air lasts only 15 minutes, after which you would presumably be sedated enough to drift off without further aid. We’ll leave you to weigh the risk and decide how far one should go for good sleep.
If anxiety over a potential machine malfunction is keeping you awake, Gosleep comes with a plethora of more conventional sleep-inducing features that may distract you enough so that your mind returns to a calmer place (there’s no indication that the Sleep Air function can be turned off entirely). There’s a Bluetooth speaker that can play a selection of calming music or sounds from the Gosleep app, a mood light, and an aromatherapy spray that will dispense your favourite scent. The app also tracks your sleep so that it may suggest adjustments that may improve sleep quality.
Every new day brings a fresh start as Gosleep wakes you up by adjusting its mood lighting, giving you a few spritzes of a rejuvenating scent, and spraying more gas in your face – oxygenated air this time – to redeem itself for going almost one third of the way to killing you the night before.
