The gravity weighted sleep mask was created by a Tokyo-based startup in collaboration with the Yamagata University Sleep Management Research Center.
According to a clinical study involving university students, the mask induces deep but brief sleep.
The company FLH Inc. sells the sleep mask under the brand name “Nelax: Power Nap for Dream.”
Nelax is a portmanteau of the English word “relax” and “ne-,” the stem of the Japanese verb “to sleep.”
Additionally, the product is referred to as a “weighted sleeping mask” in Japanese.
The 46-year-old leader of the limited liability business in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward, Norio Kajiwara, aimed to create a product that would help people relax.
Applying moderate weight to the area surrounding the wearer’s eyes was his idea. The weight is distributed uniformly over the regions surrounding the eyes thanks to the fine glass bead grains in the mask. The weight of the mask is 300 grams.
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Ten test subjects, including students, participated in the clinical study. On various dates, the latter were asked to nap with a traditional sleeping mask, a weighted sleeping mask, and no sleeping mask at all. Their brain waves were then recorded during this time.
According to the study, subjects who wore the weighted sleeping mask slept for longer periods of time during deeper non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
They discovered that the weighted sleeping mask correlates more strongly with the depth of sleep than other types of sleeping masks, according to Yasuki Yamauchi, a professor who studies sleep issues at Yamagata University Faculty of Engineering.
Nelax costs 8,800 yen ($58) with tax included. It is available for purchase on the product website at
https://hirunegao.jp/pages/nelux (in Japanese only).
