Valkee Bright Light Headset Demonstrates Alleviation of Jet Lag Symptoms

HELSINKI, December 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Field Study on Jet Lag Treatment Followed by Development of New Smartphone App to Help Travelers Adjust Faster 

The bright light headset maker Valkee announced the completion of a successful clinical field study on alleviating jet lag symptoms of travelers after long haul flights. The placebo-controlled double-blind study was the first successful clinical field study of its kind with any medical device. The results suggest that the light treatment group recovered from the typical experienced jet lag symptoms faster than the control group did.

Full results of the study are scheduled for publication in early 2015 in Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. The peer-reviewed monthly journal published by the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is the most used and cited journal in its field and distributed to more than 80 nations. Prior to 2015 it has been called Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.

"This is the first ever randomized, placebo-controlled and double-blinded light therapy study on alleviation of jet lag symptoms, and the results indicate that transcranial bright light given through ear canals decreases symptoms of jet lag," said MD, Ph.D. Jari Karhu, Medical Adviser at Valkee. "We look forward to further studies in the area."

Following the study, Valkee has developed a smart phone app that helps optimize bright light treatment, nutrition, exercise and sleep before, during and after long haul flights. An easy-to-use instructions timeline and push notifications are based on user defined flight times and routes. The free Valkee jet lag app is immediately available worldwide outside of the European Union countries, and downloadable now in App Store for iPhone users and in Google Play for Android users.

Valkee is proud to have worked closely with Finnair who place particular importance on the health and wellness of their passengers during and after flight. Finnair originally partnered with Valkee to test the product concept with the airline's business class passengers on the Helsinki-Shanghai route in 2012. Finnair has also been the first airline in the world to carry Valkee headsets in their duty free catalogue.

"We have been curious and open-minded about testing and supporting  innovative technology that travelers and our customers might find useful, especially if it could increase passenger wellbeing," said Jarkko Konttinen, Vice President of Product and Marketing at Finnair. "This is a very interesting study that tells more about Valkee's light therapy for intercontinental travelers, and we are happy to offer Valkee's product to our customers."

Members of the Finnair cabin crew have already had an opportunity to test Valkee headsets on long-haul flights over the past two years.

"We are grateful for Finnair's strong support. We are currently working on details with several other travel retail channel partners to bring the Valkee 2 bright light headsets for more travelers around the globe," said Pekka Somerto, Valkee CEO.

Valkee is available onboard Finnair, Singapore Airlines, KLM and Iberia, in addition to local retailers in several countries in Europe, Japan and North America, and from the Valkee global online store at http://www.valkee.com. More detailed information and recent news are available at http://www.valkee.com.