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Janine Barlow, 24, using the EnergyPod
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Pod’s just the job for power nap
Lucy McGuire17/ 4/2008
A SALFORD woman went to sleep on the job - all with the consent of her employer.
Janine Barlow, of Bury Road, Trinity, used an innovative ‘EnergyPod’ as part of an experiment for ITV1’s Tonight programme which was reporting on a project to help solve the nation’s insomnia.
Janine, who works at Virgin Media in Wythenshawe, completed a two-week trial of the sleep pod created in the USA, taking 20-minute naps in the pod everyday, to see how it affected her day-to-day well-being.
She said: "Because of the job we are in, we work shift patterns and it’s difficult to get a regular sleep pattern, which can be quite tiresome, so having the daily nap was quite beneficial for our social and work life.
"If you go from being on the phone into the pod it can be quite difficult to chill out at first and a lot of the time we didn’t fall into a deep sleep, but we did it at the same time every day so it became easier."
Janine said the pod works by lying down with your feet raised, level with your heart.
The person then pulls the pod around them like a visor and they relax in the ambience of dim lights and tranquil music.
After 20 minutes, the pod then wakes you up with a gentle vibration on your back.
Janine said: "In work, my productivity improved and my attention span was a lot better after using the pods.
"I was a lot more alert and when I was getting home, I wanted to go out and do things, so it benefited me in the evenings as well.
"It was a really good experience and the pods are a great idea.
"Not everyone gets their eight hours sleep a night so getting the break in the day really benefits you."
Ashley Stockwell, managing director of change at Virgin Media, said: "The napping pods have been a great experiment.
"We’ll be looking closely at the results of the trial over the coming weeks to see how this and other ideas could work in the future."
Got an opinion you want to share?Should less emphasis be placed on the results of tests and more emphasis on general education for children?
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