Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Field Study on Jet Lag Treatment Followed by Development of New Smartphone App to Help Travelers Adjust Faster
Helsinki, Finland - December 18, 2014 -- The bright light headset maker Valkee today announced the completion of a successful clinical field study on alleviating typical jet lag symptoms experienced by 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 recent 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 January 2015 issue the journal has been called Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.
Following the study, Valkee has developed a smart phone app to be offered as a companion for the Valkee device to help travelers best alleviate jet lag symptoms. The app 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 plans to introduce the app shortly also in the EU countries.
About the Jet Lag and Bright Light Field Study
Study participants were 55 healthy volunteers, randomized into light treatment group and placebo group. The participants traveled by plane from Finland to North America and back and spent at least one week on the ground in North America before their flight back, to allow their internal clock to adjust into the US time.
During the intervention period immediately after returning to Finland, participants received bright light or placebo exposure at pre-determined times. The effects of the intervention to jet lag symptoms were evaluated by the same structured scales, which were used in all seven jet lag field studies that have been published during the last 15 years. In the bright light treatment group, the jet lag symptoms decreased faster than in the placebo group, with a statistically significant difference. The bright light group participants’
recovery back to their baseline condition, measured before the flight, took on average only half as long compared with the placebo group.
“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 are excited about the opportunity of alleviating jet lag symptoms of frequent business and holiday travelers alike, and look forward to further studies in the area.”
Based on the study results, Valkee is now seeking to add alleviation of jet lag symptoms to its current medical device certification of the Valkee 2 bright light headset (under Council Directive 92/43/EEC), expanding its existing EU medical certification for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), and enabling subsequent commercial launch within the European Union.
Airline Passenger and Cabin Crew Input Collected Since 2012
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 already in 2012. Finnair has also been the first airline in the world to carry Valkee headsets in their duty free catalogue. Members of the cabin crew have had an opportunity to test Valkee headsets on long-haul flights over the past two years.
“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.”
“The field study results demonstrate the effects we have already seen in the positive user feedback during the concept tests on Finnair long haul routes to Asia”, said Pekka Somerto, Valkee CEO. “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.”
About Valkee
Valkee is a medical device and technology company with a mission of harnessing the health and wellness benefits of light for the human mind and performance. Based on long-term scientific research and development work together with Finland’s Oulu University researchers, Valkee introduced the world’s first bright light headset in 2010 for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Consistent with the strong trend of health technology and fueled by groundbreaking innovations, the category of bright light devices is growing at an increasing pace. Continued research efforts and clinical tests at Valkee and elsewhere raise understanding of how the human brain senses and responds to light. To date, placebo- and sham-controlled studies have confirmed that light modulates brain activity and shown the efficiency of the ear canal as a channel for projecting light to photosensitive areas of the human brain.
Ongoing research aims to extend health uses of bright light therapy from treatment of seasonal affective disorder to other areas of wellbeing and performance. Valkee continues the pioneering research and looks forward to helping people feel better, ideally coupled with a reduced need for anti-depressant and other drugs. With the unique, pocked-sized Valkee headset, bright light treatment is no longer just a bulky lamp on a desk, but a beautifully designed personal appliance to accompany users wherever they go.
Valkee 2 Bright Light Headset is a CE Class 2(a) medical device in the EU for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder. The device 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 www.valkee.com. More detailed information and recent news are available at www.valkee.com, www.facebook.com/valkeecompany and www.twitter.com/humancharger.
For further information, please contact:
Pekka Somerto, CEO, Valkee
Tel. +358 40 829 6343
pekka.somerto@valkee.com
Agency contact: Juha Frey, Netprofile for Valkee
Tel. +358 40 572 1120 (office), +358 40 572 4674 (mobile)
valkee@netprofile.fi
Media kit, downloadable from Dropbox:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/80k52gestnmknva/AADR5jFjingGM8XPiSGHyX1Ta?dl=0