Brighter lights, deeper sleep

Philips said it has already conducted a pilot study on how effective HealWell could be as a sleeping aid. In that study, carried out at the Maastricht University Medical Center in the Netherlands, Philips said they recruited 100-140 patients. Some of the patients, the control group, dozed in a normally lit room for a week, while the others spent the week snoozing in a Healwell-lit room.

According to Philips, the HealWell room helped improved sleep quality along two measures. At the end of the first week, patients staying in a HealWell room slept, on average, 8 percent longer, for an average rest of six and a half hours, Philips said. They also fell asleep about 30 percent quicker, taking an average of 16 minutes to drift into unconsciousness, Philips said.

U.S. release -- a few years away

The HealWell project was commercially launched in Europe last fall at the Medica trade show in Germany. So far, Philips said it has run two pilot projects, one at Masstricht and another in England. Other installations are "in the pipeline," but the company wouldn't reveal more details about in-the-works projects.

As for the United States, Philips said it hopes to bring the system to U.S. markets within the next two years.

"We're developing the solution and the proposition to make it fit for North America," Meekes said. Tailoring the product for the U.S. means complying with different regulations for electrical components and taking into account layout differences of American hospitals, she said.

In any case, those living in or traveling to the Middle East can see it at Arab Health 2012, running Jan. 23-26 at the Dubai World Trade Center.

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