Jet lag is the bane of many a world traveller, and many gadgets, gizmos and techniques promise to nip it in the bud. The Valkee 2 is one such: it claims to reduce jet lag by blasting light, not into your eyes, but into your ears.
On the surface it looks like a shiny metallic iPod nano with headphones attached, and uses fibre optics to shine more than 10,000 lux of UV-free blue-enriched white light into your ears. (For comparison, 10,000 lux is equivalent to the brightness of the non-direct sunlight on a cloudless day; the EU specifies that an office should have a minimum lighting brightness of 500 lux.)
Winter Blues
Valkee sells the bright light headset as a treatment for seasonal affective disorder (Sad), commonly called the "winter blues". SAD is a recognised seasonal pattern of depression, which affects mood and energy levels in the winter months in the northern hemisphere. "It keeps winter blues at bay," the website says.
Sad is thought to affect around 20% of people in the UK, according to the non-profit Sad Association. Its effects are most felt during December, January and February, when the days are shortest, and alleviated with the coming of longer days in spring.
The exact cause of Sad is not fully understood, but is thought to be linked to a reduction in exposure to sunlight. Most common treatments therefore involve bright lights shone into the eyes, as a way of simulating higher levels of sunlight exposure.
The theory behind Valkee’s device is that the light penetrate your ear canal and triggers light-sensitive proteins in your brain which are involved in the control of your body clock or circadian rhythm – the internal system that governs when you feel sleepy, awake and hungry among a myriad of important bodily goings-on. Shining light, it argues, treats Sad and resets the body’s clock.
Light up your ears
Whereas most Sad treatments use a very bright light or lamp that you sit in front of in the mornings, using the Valkee 2 is a lot more portable and discreet.
The light dispensers look like earphones, complete with silicon earbuds, and fire the light along a 5mm thick rod directly into your ear canal. The only clue that you're not using earphones comes from a white glowing V logo on the back of the buds and the fact that your ears glow red from the light shining through your flesh.
Using the headset is incredibly easy – just one button on the silver battery pack triggers a 12-minute timer which counts down in a ring of lights around the large power button. Once the timer is done, the Valkee beeps and shuts down until the next session.
The battery pack is charged via a standard micro-USB cable, just like a smartphone or tablet. I got well over a week’s worth of use (Valkee claims two weeks’ battery) out of the Valkee between charges, even while trying to combat jet lag.
Warm ears, still laggy
For Sad treatment, Valkee recommends a full 12-minute does of light into your ears within two hours of waking up each morning at the same time every morning. I do not knowingly suffer from Sad, and so I cannot vouch for its effectiveness. I do, however, suffer quite badly from jet lag.
While Valkee states that the headset is not a “Class II(a) medical device” for the treatment of jet lag, as it is for the treatment of Sad, it clearly states that “it can also be used to aid in the resetting of your biological clock”. It also says that Valkee is currently in the midst of clinical testing for “other benefits”.
For jet lag, Valkee recommends a full 12-minute dose of light at 9am, 12-noon, 3pm and 6pm in the time zone of your destination for three to four days of your trip, starting while en route.
In my testing, on a recent trip to Las Vegas – an eight-hour time difference that put my internal clock ahead of local time – I felt the headset did nothing to alleviate the sluggishness, out-of-sync effects of jet lag. It took me just as long to get over the time difference, both going there and coming back, as it has previously without using the Valkee. I did not feel any more alert or able to sleep at the appropriate times than on any other trip of that distance I have made.
In fact, the only effect I felt while using the Valkee was a warming of the ears – although that could be psychosomatic as the optical fibre in the earbud does not give off any perceptible heat.
'Valkee science facts'
The scientific basis for the Valkee 2‘s treatment of Sad is best described as murky. Valkee lists a series of studies on its website – some published in peer-reviewed journals, some presented as "posters" at scientific conferences (and so not peer-reviewed) – and claiming that the mechanism under which the light headset is supposed to work is cold, hard “science fact”.
Unfortunately, none of the peer-reviewed studies listed in Valkee's "science summary" appears to be conducted without a conflict of interest with the company that produces the light headsets, having at least one of Valkee's founders on each of the research teams. They also fail to uncover how the light actually causes the effects the Valkee scientists claim to see. Just because something is registered as a “Class II(a) medical device” does not mean it is necessarily effective.
Further, the basis of the effects of shining light into the ear canal to affect circadian rhythm processes in the brain is disputed by a further peer-reviewed study, conducted by researchers unconnected with Valkee.
There is evidence to suggest that proteins in the brain are light sensitive, and that red and infrared laser light can penetrate the skin and bone to cause effects directly on brain cells. But the science is in its infancy at best, and certainly needs more research to even approach "science fact" (as Valkee likes to call it).
Regardless of the science, the bright light headset did nothing to help my recovery from jet lag and did not affect my mood or state of alertness in any perceivable way. For me, the €200 Valkee 2 appeared to be at best a very expensive flashlight.
Star rating: 0 stars
Pros: compact, long battery life, discreet, easy to use, comfortable
Cons: didn't cure my jet lag; expensive; science unproven
