Travel frequently and suffer from jet lag?

Do you have issues with seasonal affective disorder (SAD)?

Need to get your circadian rhythm in sync?

How about a mid day energy boost, especially on a gloomy day?

This might be just the thing… read on!

I recently discovered the HumanCharger after my husband had talked to Valkee’s CEO, Aki Backman and their social media specialist, Jari Koponen at the Bullet proof conference in Pasadena, CA in October 2015.

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A few weeks later we got ours in the mail! Awesome! Once we got these bad boys we had to figure out how and when to use them!

So, what is this darn thing?

This device emits light through ear buds into your ears…

Okay, so what? That is supposed to give me copious amounts of energy? Well, sort of. This light that the HumanCharger emits is visible UV Free, blue enriched white light that, when the ear buds are placed in your ear, light travels through your ear canals and reaches the light sensitive areas of your brain. It is essentially light therapy in a convenient little device with, seemingly, many benefits.

Benefits and Use

Be in sync

No, I am not talking about the band! Stay focused here! Jeez, maybe you should check your circadian rhythms…

Back in the day of Groc, as Mark Sisson likes to call paleolithic era people, peeps did not have electricity, computers, cell phones and the like surging and pulsating 24 / 7. Nor did Groc travel around the world for vacations or business trips is a swift airplane crossing multiple times zones in a matter of hours ultimately affecting our circadian rhythms.

As many of us have experienced, when our physiological rhythms are out of sych, we notice our sleep, appetite, mood, focus, and immune system are less than optimal which then affects our work, relationships, and so on.

Our circadian rhythms are dependent upon the light detected by your eyes and skin. When you are exposed to any day light or blue type of light (sunlight, computers, digital clocks, street lights, TV’s), your body detects that it is daytime and that you should be awake. When there is an absence of this light, your body detects that it is night and secretes hormones to ready you for a restful slumber. Lack of a restful slumber and not enough of it negatively impacts your physiology showing up as mood swings, getting sick easier, lack of focus and so on.

When you travel across time zones, your body is not used to the light it is detecting at the times it is shining. When you try to play along with the new time zone, sleeping when it is dark and waking when it is light, you can experience jet lag for several days, let alone flying back to your home time zone and readjusting.

This device is supposed to aid in re-synching your circadian rhythms to decrease the effects of jet lag by at least half as shown in this study published in an issue of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance in vol. 86 no. 4 of April 2015.

55 subjects participated in this study, half received light treatment, half received a placebo. The participants traveled by plane from Finland to North America. They spent 1 week in North America before traveling back to Finland. Once arriving in Finland, the participants were exposed to a HumanCharger type device 4 times per day at particular times, and viola, the treatment group recovered from jet lag twice as fast as the placebo group.

How do you use the HumanCharger?

According to the Valkee Planning your trip with HumanCharger manual, you would use this device beginning 2-3 days prior to traveling to the new times zone at 12 minutes per session.

Traveling eastward:

2-3 day prior to travel, use the HumanCharger when you wake up and try to move your bedtime 30-60 minutes earlier for 2-3 days prior to travel.

Once you have reached your destination, use the device first thing in the morning and early afternoon totaling 4 times during the day at 2 hour intervals.

For example: Wake up at 7 AM and use the HumanCharger, then again at 9 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM for 12 minutes pe session. Repeat on the following days until you feel you are recovered.

Traveling westward:

2-3 day prior to travel, use the HumanCharger in the evening and move your bedtime 30-60 minutes later. When you arrive at your destination, use the HumanCharger from late afternoon to evening 4 times at 12 minutes per session.

For example: At your destination, use the charger at 3 PM, 5 PM, 7 PM and 9 PM destination local time. Repeat for as many days as necessary to feel jet lag free.

Is there an app for that?

Um yeah! It’s called “HumanCharger.”

This app will tell you the ideal trip-specific instructions and reminders. Cool! I haven’t used this but it sounds neat.

So next time you are traveling around the world, consider the Human Charger in your arsenal of tools to recoup quicker and get back on track.

What about the non-traveler?

Totally!

Early Wake Up

If you have to wake up a bit earlier than normal, plug this bad boy into your ears for 12 minutes and eliminate the usually fogginess of early waking. In my case… when my kids feel the need to be up at 5 am :/

On Gloomy Days

Use the Human Charger on gloomy days or through long winter seasons in the afternoon to fend off the moody blues or to help with SAD (seasonal affective disorder). This seems to be a great way to have a portable light for anytime of the day rather than that big clunky full spectrum light box you sit in front of.

Update: 12-2-15. I have been using this device for 4 days as these past 4 have been completely without sunshine in MN. When I wake up and there is no sun, I don’t have that uplifting “its a sunny day!” feeling. It totally feels… gloomy. I will then use the HumanCharger for 12 minutes in the morning, then do so again after lunch.

I have noticed, during use or immediately after that my mood is boosted. That could be a placebo affect for me or it could really be working! I will continue on and report back.

Check out:

www.humancharger.com

Click here for Other articles written about the HumanCharger:

03 Media Links of recent HumanCharger coverage

NOTE: HumanCharger is certified in Europe (by German TüV) as medical device to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), so in Europe our documentation refers to SAD in addition to jet lag. They have not gone through similar certification in US with FDA and therefore in USdocumentation refers only to jet lag and we can not refer to SAD in US (even if the physically the HumanChargers sold in EU and US are the same).