The Press+
Philippe Mercure
An innovation from Laval University could reduce the risk of road accident.
The idea: use the famous blue light that undermines our sleep when we look at screens before going to bed to stimulate the vigilance of drivers.
See life in blue
The device looks a bit like a smartphone or a GPS navigator. The difference is that it does not display text, maps, or images. All that the screen diffuses is a blue light. The color was not chosen for its beauty, but because the blue light stimulates our biological clock by suppressing the secretion of melatonin, called “sleep hormone”. “If you are exposed to blue light for more than half an hour, you should stay alert for a period of about two hours,” says Jacques Dénommée, president of the Chronophotonix company, behind the invention.
The device, called Bluewake, is installed in the car with a support like a GPS navigator or a smart phone. It stems from the work of researcher Marc Hébert, professor and director of the visual electrophysiology and photobiology laboratory at Laval University.
