The sleep jacket created by Japanese researchers comes with a “helmet” and a hood that eliminates the noise from outside, photo: JLPPA / Bestimage / Profimedia
Often described as one of the most countries in the world, the least, Japan repeatedly occupies the last place or is near the tail of the ranking in surveys and international studies on the duration and quality of sleep. But a design company has now developed a creative solution that, she believes, can provide a real impulse to Sestesti, CNN reports.
Its concept of “intelligent” fluffic jacket is designed to optimize short sleep, providing customized sound and light based on the user's biometric data, such as heart rate and body temperature, collected through a bearing ring.
“We realized that sleep is very personal,” said Dai Miyata, Konel Creative Art Director, the company that developed a jacket in collaboration with the “Sleep Technology Division” from NTT DX Partners, a digital consulting firm.
“You can't force someone to fall asleep, you have to fall asleep alone. So we wondered: Can we create something to help people fall asleep at their own pace?” Explained Miyata.
ZZZN sleep clothing is designed to be worn everyday as an ordinary, oversized jacket, and users can activate “sleeping mode” by pulling the hood over their heads when they want to pull a nap on the way home.
The jacket is not for the timely consumption, but a conceptual prototype of this invention will be exhibited between June 24 and July 7 to Expo 2025 Osaka, where visitors will be able to test it personally. Miyata hopes that this innovation will make people “more curious about sleep” and will arouse discussions about how we can rest better.
“It is such a natural part of life, and yet there are many things we do not understand about it,” he added.
The jacket is inspired by a clothing item in Japanese history
Konel started developing this jacket last year with financial support from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, within a program that aims to transform personal health into useful services and products.
“Given that Japan is one of the most private countries, we thought how to address this problem through business initiatives,” said Teppe Ogata, production manager in the NTT DX Partners.
The previous efforts of the company did not lead to significant behavioral changes, said Ogata, so they decided to adopt a “fun and creative” approach, designing the playful “portable sleep” idea.
The jacket is inspired by “Yogi”, a kimono that was popular during the EDO (1615-1868) for sleeping, especially in winter. Although Yogi is often compared to pajamas, he is “rather something you can fall asleep and then wake up and leave,” said Miyata. “There is more a merger between clothing and litter,” he explains.
