It is almost impossible to avoid sleeping at work, isn’t it? You’re trying very hard to keep your eyes open but you just can’t control it. Sitting in front of the computer all day long just makes you want to dose off for a little bit.

This issue is mostly faced by employees working for long hours or even maybe over time, like in Japan. In fact, there is a Japanese word for napping in public, “inemuri”, which is translated as “present while sleeping”.

Apparently, Japan came up with a technology that you keep you not just awake but also attentive during work hours. Two of the country’s leading manufacturing companies teamed up, working on a tech that just might make that post-lunch office nap history.

The Technology

Air conditioning units manufacturer Daikin and electronics giant NEC worked on an innovative system with a sensor that can be installed in employees’ computers. The sensor would detect different types of eyelid movements. As soon as it catches you red-handed as you doze off, the system lowers the room temperature. So low that you feel the same you do as you take a cold shower in the morning. It’s enough to send a slight shiver up your spine.

Pretty genius right?

How the Tech Came About

A study to determine the most effective way to keep people awake or attentive was carried out by the two Japanese giants.

Participants were given various simple math problems to solve in different conditions that included; lowering the room temperature by a few degrees, increasing the brightness and spraying different aromas.

“Our study proved that lowering temperature is effective, especially when the early signs of sleepiness are detected,” the companies said in a joint statement.

A Daikin spokesman told the AFP news agency that the system would be brought to the market by 2020.

The company also aims to invent air conditioners that would target any sleepy employee individually with cold air.

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Via: WEF