Insomnia is one of the worst sleep disorders and everyone will experience it either in its acute or chronic state. A study from 2018 shows that one in four Americans develop insomnia every year. While some people have difficulties staying asleep, there are a lot of people who are unable to fall asleep in the first place. Luckily, there’s a small device that will help you fall asleep, and no, it’s not a white noise machine.
You probably heard about Dodow Sleep Aid. It’s a small device designed to help you optimize your breathing cycles which ultimately relaxes your body and helps you have an easier time falling asleep. There’s no large abundance of these devices on the market, yet Dodow seems to bear a promising formula that will ring the bells for the end of your insomnia, regardless of how long you’ve been experiencing it.
Dodow Sleep Aid was designed by people who were insomniac itself, and based on the research and dedication, it helped a lot of people improve their sleep habits. The company group that manufactures and monitors the development of Dodow is called Livlab and it sees development of different products that are supposed to aid sleep.
A lot of people aren’t prepared to just lay down in bed and go to sleep. A lot of people work overtime, and the times of global pandemics led many people who are working from home to dive into their bed right after shutting down their home office. The ultimate goal of Dodow is to relax your body and prepare it to sleep.
What does that relaxing entail? It’s supposed to clear your thoughts from negativity and day-to-day problems using a special technique called “rest and digest.” Ultimately, practicing this technique will help you optimize your breathing and with that, your heart rate, racing thoughts, circulation, and muscle relaxation. It will teach your body how to conserve and control the energy it has normally spent on thinking why you’re not able to sleep and overthinking.
The company promises you’ll fall asleep in less than 20 minutes, and sometimes, even less than 10 minutes. Let’s see if that holds in this Dodow Sleep Aid review. We’ll detail everything, from design, performance, and how to use it, to whether you should use it if you suffer from insomnia or some other disorder that leads to sleep deprivation.
Dodow Sleep Aid Review: Design
If you looked at the picture of Dodow Sleep Aid, you must know that it’s a small disk that can either fit on your nightstand, desk, or bed. Either way, it’s best to keep it close so that you can focus on falling asleep peacefully.
In this section, we’ll talk about the design of this Sleep Aid, and its specifications, so that you can get to know them better.
Specifications
Dodow has a simple and straightforward design. After all, it was designed to make your night rest simpler and aid you in falling asleep with ease. That said, you won’t even use it for a longer time than a few minutes every night until you exercised your breathing sufficiently to fall asleep deeply.
Like we mentioned before, the Dodow Sleep Aid is a small white disk with a white top consisting of numerous bright blue LED lights that project themselves onto the ceiling. A lot of people were concerned about the presence of Blue Light technology, as it may cause some people to wake up even more.
But, since the Dodow is a medically approved design, during the thoroughly executed clinical testing a lot of people found that using the bright blue light is the most effective way when it comes to aiding someone to fall asleep. Besides, the blue light is still projecting onto the ceiling. Its low intensity prevents you from being disturbed by it while laying in the bed.
The luminosity of the device is less than 1 lux, so it’s hardly noticeable by someone who is focusing on the details behind the metronomic projection on your ceiling. Still, it won’t work if you leave it in a bright ambient. You should definitely avoid sleeping in the bright area, as that will hinder your night rest in general.
Dodow is small enough for you to be able to put it on your nightstand, or desk if you’re sleeping next to it. Additionally, if you sleep in a larger bed, you can even put it next to yourself, so that you can have an easier time manipulating it, in the sense if you want to switch between the different controls or extend the working cycle if you aren’t able to fall asleep immediately.
There are no additional wires or cables because Dodow doesn’t work as a smart device that needs constant charging. Instead, if you flip it over, you’ll find there’s a wheel that you can easily unscrew to place 3 AAA batteries which are necessary for it to work properly. With that in mind, Dodow is easy to operate with, and quite straightforward when it comes to storage.
Lastly, we wanted to point out that Dodow weighs around 7 ounces. That’s feather-light, which means you can take it to trips and other places where you’ll be uncertain about whether you can fall asleep or not. Keep in mind that more than one person can use it, so if your sleep partner experiences sleep deprivation caused by insomnia, you’ll have an easier time falling asleep as a group.
Controls
Controls are quite simple. What’s more, they’re illustrated over the bright center that gives a donut-like feel to the overall disk-designed Dodow Sleep Aid. What do you have to do to go to sleep peacefully? You’ll be surprised to find out.
Once you insert the batteries, that’s it. It’s ready for your instructions on what kind of night sleep you’re looking to have. There are two operation profiles, which we’ll detail later, but what’s necessary for you to know is that one has an 8-minute countdown and the other one has a 20-minute countdown.
If you want the 8-minute cycle, all you have to do is tap once and the countdown will start. In case you want the 20-minute operation cycle, you’ll only have to tap twice. Long-pressing the surface of Dodow for more than 3 seconds will shut down your device – in case you become extremely sleepy in the middle of the cycle and don’t want to run it anymore.
If you’re concerned about the battery life and don’t want to spend too much of it, you can also change the brightness intensity if the bright blue color bothers you.
All you have to do is long-press and choose different brightness settings that you can use. After that, hold your press for 3 seconds to turn off the device and save your choice in the process. Still, don’t worry too much as the batteries consumed in the Dodow will allow it to function for hundreds of nights before running out of battery.
Dodow Sleep Aid Review: Performance
We saw what is Dodow Sleep Aid made of, but we need to see whether it works or not. Below we’ll instruct you about different ways in which sleep metronomes help people fall asleep, and we’ll also take a deeper look at whether the performance of Dodow Sleep Aid helps you get more shut-eye in the night and remain deep asleep and relaxed.
How Does Dodow Sleep Aid Work?
We first need to explain what a metronome means and how it can improve your night rest in total. Metronomes are instruments that assist composers and musicians when playing an instrument. It helps them maintain a rhythm at playing so that the sound that comes out of their instrument is consistent and more accurate.
Similar can be said for Dodow Sleep Aid. It acts as a light metronome. In other words, it will project bright blue light on your ceiling and pace it in a way that you can keep up with it to optimize and improve your breathing technique. When a certain projection of light appears on the ceiling, you will need to breathe in, and as the animation changes, you’ll breathe out through the nose or the mouth.
This way, your muscles, and central nervous systems will relax and you’ll have an easier time falling asleep. Since it’s a metronome, it’ll keep a specific pace, so you won’t find yourself fast breathing or breathing slower than you need to.
There is a lot of evidence that shows that light metronomes can help you fall asleep and maintain a healthy and long night’s rest. One of the studies suggests that light metronomes can help you fall asleep faster.
Dodow’s light metronome can also run at a rocking metronome simulation, which can trigger certain neurotransmitters that can induce deep sleep, which is often described as restorative sleep, associated with the healing and recovery of muscles and bones. It was already shown that rocky simulation can induce deep sleep, as per the study.
Slow breathing has various benefits. One of them is that it can slow your body’s metabolism, lower your blood pressure, trigger certain neurotransmitters and nerve cells that tell your nervous system to relax, and much more. Fast metabolism can often keep us awake at night, especially if we eat heavy food or exercise before bed. Additionally, so can blood pressure, as it’s directly associated with stress.
Does It Work?
The scientific theory about Dodow Sleep Aid sounds very nice. All you have to do is sync your breathing with the light projection playing out on your ceiling, and that’s it, you’ll fall asleep. The practical application dives a little deeper than the theory. Let’s talk about it.
Normally, you’ll take some time getting used to Dodow. If you’re used to sleeping in a super-dark environment, that is static in the process (for example, no TV playing out in the background, you’ll have a difficult time getting used to it.
Some people who have breathing difficulties, like sleep apnea, asthma, various allergies, and similar will also have additional difficulties falling asleep or even getting used to it at all. The key is to keep practicing and try out different options that will make you fall asleep easier.
People who don’t sleep on their back most of the time may also face difficulties laying on their back and trying to fall asleep while the cycles are playing. Nevertheless, the good news is that you don’t have to fall asleep in its entirety, it’s just necessary for the device to trigger mechanisms in your body that will practically aid you to close your eyes and fall into slumber.
The difference between the two operation modes is only in the length of work. Both of them are designed to allow you to reduce your breathing to six cycles per minute, where normal cycles for different people can be anywhere from 9 to 12, to 18 breaths per minute if you’re suffering from some chronic condition.
People who suffer from severe chronic insomnia should start with 20 cycles, as they normally take longer to fall asleep, and their body will gradually accommodate to new breathing cycle and allow it to fall asleep easier and without too much effort. Otherwise, you can start with the 8-minute cycle, but if you feel like you still struggle, feel free to pump it up to the 20-minute cycle.
As you get used to Dodow, you’ll soon have an easier time turning over and falling asleep before the timer expires.
Warranty & Returns
There is both good and bad news when it comes to the warranty and returns of Dodow. The warranty includes 2 years, which is more than enough to prove its performance for you and restore your sleep cycle to where it should be.
In addition to that, there’s a way to test the device out through the sleep trial of 100 nights, which allows you to test the device out and see whether it’s a fit for you. Isn’t that great, you’ll be able to sleep with it for well over three months before you’ll be sure whether you want to return it or not.
What’s not so good news is that the warranty won’t always be applicable through other vendors and shops. That said, it’s the safest to purchase Dodow from the official website, and not worry about the warranty being voided for you. We noticed that the trial period is shorter for some other vendors, which shows that the official shop is the safest bet for you.
Accessories
As we said, Dodow doesn’t come with any cables or wires, as it relies on 3 AAA batteries that power it up. Given that traveling can also lead to insomnia to some people, it’s always good to have Dodow in your bag or purse to assist you. You can also purchase an additional bag which costs around $12, depending on the vendor that sells it. It’s a travel safe bag, and it’ll keep your Dodow in one piece.
There’s also a manual that will help instruct you on how to sleep properly and have an easier time falling asleep to Dodow.
Pros And Cons of Dodow Sleep Aid
No review would go by without the pro and cons section, which may also help you build your conclusion and have an easier time deciding whether Dodow is the right device for you, so let’s start.
Pros
- It’s small and portable. You can either rest it on your nightstand or computer desk. If you sleep in a bigger bed, it can even be there without bothering you. If you’re an avid traveler, Dodow will be your loyal companion on your trips and will also help you fall asleep with ease in the process.
- It comes in two operation modes. The eight and 20-minute modes allow you to practice breathing techniques for an extended amount of time have to get better breathing habits and learn how to relax and wind down by breathing in and out only six times in a minute.
- There are no wires or additional cables that may hinder your night’s rest. Rest assured that this device is hands-free once you enable it.
- You can choose between different brightness options to ensure that the blue light won’t cause a lack of melatonin and lead you to be more awake than sleepy.
- It comes with two years of warranty and 100 nights sleep trial for you to test its performance.
- It supports synchronized rocking motion that helps induce deep sleep.
- Its controls are easy and intuitive to use.
- In the long run, Dodow and its maintenance are more affordable than expensive sleeping pills, but you can still combine the two if your doctor recommends it.
However, nothing is perfect, hence we noticed a couple of flaws that you may not be okay with.
Cons
- Blue light may bother some people.
- People who have breathing disorders including allergic asthma may not have an easy time falling asleep or adjusting to it.
- Some people may still be annoyed with it and take multiple cycles to fall asleep.
- There is no way to tell you your battery will run out of juice soon.
- It will still take time for you to get used to Dodow. But, the company’s manual will help you adjust and get used to it faster.
Are There Alternatives?
At the moment there are no alternatives to Dodow Sleep Aid that will do exactly the function of Dodow. Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning that fans like the white noise and pink noise machines can be effective at helping people fall asleep.
Additionally, there are massaging headbands that are placed on the head to help you relax and prepare for bed. Still, we think that Dodow is the perfect fit for your sleep needs if you use it properly.
Livlab, the company group that developed Dodow also worked on headband headphones Hoom that can broadcast special stories that help people fall asleep, using an iOS and Android-friendly app. In case don’t need help with breathing optimization, you can use these sleeping headphones, one of which is Hoom.
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