BreezeBlog

With the Met Office predicting temperatures to soar during the coming week we're set for a busy week at Sleepbreeze.co.uk, despatching our personal coolers to customers around Britain and beyond.

One of the most common questions we get asked is: "What is the best temperature to sleep at?" Although there's no clear cut answer, what is important is that we lose some body heat before sleeping. Obviously in hot weather this takes a lot longer, or doesn't happen at all. That's why the Sleepbreeze is such a great product to have tucked away at home. It cools you sufficiently to get good quality sleep even in a heatwave.

Experts reckon that once the night time temperature reaches 17-18 Celsius then sleep becomes difficult to achieve and is also disturbed. Of course if it's been a sunny day then the temperature in your bedroom is going to be a lot warmer, heatwave or no heatwave.

For anyone living in built up areas, like London, ambient temperatures can be several degrees warmer than outlying country areas, simply because of the amount of buildings, people, and vehicles etc all of which generate heat.

Whilst we applaud some of the green advice on keeping cool, such as planting a tree outside your home to provide shade, that won't pay off quickly enough to benefit you this week. They do say, however, that planting a tree whose shade you'll never sit in is the ultimate mark of civilisation. That'll be something to think on as you lie in bed this week.

Equally purchasing a portable air conditioner (typically around £200-500) isn't necessarily a cost effective solution once you've thrown in the amount of electricity it will use. It was interesting to hear some of the school kids at the Surrey SATRO festival this week telling me how much energy a unit like this uses. "Too much!" was possibly the best answer. But about 2000 watts (or ~25 lightbulbs worth) would be a good figure. So, where does that leave us all?

Well for our customers who bought our product over the last year they'll be breaking out their Sleepbreezes over the coming day or so. And for anyone interested in purchasing our product - subject to stock - we'll be posting them out daily in time for you to beat the heat with them.

Posted by at 12:42 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Well, I figured a good result would be if the students who visited the Working World marquee at Surrey SATRO's Festival of Science and Engeineering asked some questions. A great result would be if they asked some difficult questions. I wasn't dissappointed. Questions came thick and fast, ranging from questions about patents and marketing to fluid dynamics of manifolds.

Yesterday's event hosted by the Brooklands museum and opened by TV Brainiac's Jon Tickle was thoroughly worthwhile for us here at Sleepbreeze.co.uk, as I suspect it was for all the other companies and organisations who took part.

Sleepbreeze had on display its latest product which is used to cool people using military camp beds. Developed for the Event Medicine Company - a privately operated field hospital that caters for mass participation events in the UK - the cooler straps to the side of a camp bed and provides cooling for those who have collapsed in the heat, or who are suffering receiving treatment for other conditions of which heat-related illness compounds their medical situation.

More photos are on the Sleepbreeze page on facebook.

Schools across Surrey and Hampshire were competiting for prizes and showing off their inventions which ranged from an Olympic bridge to renewable energy projects and a CO2-based air con system for night clubs (Farnborough 6th form college).

Having seen the degree of innovation and ingenuity by the students at the festival I came away much inspired by what they had achieved. Britain has, traditionally, earnt a reputation for innovation and inventiveness. Talking to the students yesterday this reputation will be around for a long time to come.

Roll on Surrey SATRO's 2010 festival!

Posted by at 12:13 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As ever we're keen to mention companies that have been helpful. Earlier this week it was a pleasure to acknowledge Positive Branding and Displays-2-go.

It's now the turn of the Sleepbreeze spotlight to turn on MediaPlanet, who produced the "Embrace the Change" supplement in The Sunday Telegraph, to receive some praise. Well done to Rosie and her colleagues at Mediaplanet for working with us so professionally. We're already shipping the Sleepbreeze personal cooler out to ladies who need some relief from hot flushes and night sweats as a result of the supplement.

Mediaplanet's "Embrace the Change" supplement will also be going out with the British Menopausal Society newsletter and will appear on their website.

Posted by at 3:07 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

We were sorry to hear of the passing of former colleague, Air Vice Marshall John Ernsting. "JE", as he was affectionately known, was a tremendous inspiration for younger researchers in the field of Aviation Medicine. Many of us who worked at the RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough have much to thank JE for. No surprise to hear that he was working to the very end! Our condolances go to his family and friends around the world.

Posted by at 11:27 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

From time to time we are pleased to mention some of the companies that help us build our business. Sleepbreeze is well known for using local sourcing (where we can) for its goods and services, with a bias towards family owned businesses and UK manufacture.

This week two firms have been helping us get ready for a number of exhibitions and tradeshows, including this week's Surrey SATRO's Festival of Science and Engineering.

First up was Positive Branding, based in North London, who have done a superb job on our company-branded polo shirts. Positive Branding personal service was both excellent and speedy. We'd recommend them to anyone.

Next up was Stafford-based "Displays-2-go" who have provided us with a marvellous pop up banner that will help us get our message across at both the Surrey SATRO festival and the British Festival of Science in Guildford this September. Displays-2-go service was excellent and although they easily beat their 5 day timescale - the banner was with us in about 2 days. Displays-2-go pride themselves on their in-house printing and we'd have to say that the quality of their work is fantastic.

Thanks to both companies - we look forward to working with you in the future.

Posted by at 10:16 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Good to see last night's programme from the BBC on getting a better night's sleep. Entitled, "10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep" and hosted by Kate Silverton the programme explored some of the science behind why we fall asleep - and why we sometimes don't!

10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep led with a seemingly new concept that temperature and sleep onset are inter-linked. As we discuss on the Sleepbreeze FAQ page it is sometimes hard to fall asleep when the weather is hot. This is simply because the normal fall in body temperature that we experience around bedtime takes a lot longer when the air around our body's is warm. Hence the need sometimes for a cooling fan like the Sleepbreeze to give the body a gentle nudge in the right direction.

So, what was behind the physiological concepts that the programme was exploring? Put simply, when our deep body temperature rises our skin blood vessels dilate to help loose heat and regain equilibrium. The experiment that Kate Silverton took part in, where she was immersed in a bath of relatively hot water, was an attempt to trick the body into vasodilating and causing a subsequent drop in body temperature (triggering sleep onset). It is worth mentioning for anyone wanting to try this that in hot weather we tend to be vasoldilated as much as is possible (and often sweating into the bargain), so this wouldn't work as well in a heatwave.

Basically, to achieve sleep onset you need to get the body's physiological processes AND the environmental conditions around you working together. Hence, when trying to sleep in hot weather you need to be vasoldilated and possibly sweating (which will happen anyway if it is hot enough) AND have some air movement over your skin to help dissipate the heat from the skin surface.

And just to round off this post, it was nice to see former colleague Dr Barbara Stone on the programme.

Posted by at 11:17 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Here's an added bonus for anyone using PayPal as their checkout method.

PayPal is helping online merchants like Sleepbreeze, over the coming weeks by running a lucky draw. One lucky winner each week will be at Sleepbreeze Ltd over the coming weeks.

This offer applies each week through till the end of May 2009.

All you need to do is use PayPal when you go to the checkout at our online store and you'll be entered into PayPal's draw.

Best of luck to all of you. And send us a postcard if you win!

Terms and conditions: https://www.paypal-marketing.co.uk/win10k/terms/index.htm

Posted by at 12:47 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The 2009 hurricane season is forecast to be "above average" with some 14 named storms from the Atlantic Ocean, 7 of which are likely to become hurricanes.

Atlantic Hurricane season starts, officially, on June 1st. Officials are warning that there is a 63% probability of the storms hitting the US will be Category 3.

Being a forecast there's no guarantee that the prediction will be right. And let's hope that residents of Florida and other southern states escape. Last year however, according to CNN, forecasters predicted 15 storms and there turned out to be 16. So, fair to say that past predictions have been fairly accurate.

The internet is loaded with handy hurricane preparation checklists. Consistent among these lists is the advice to turn off mains powered equipment to avoid damage to goods and air conditioning systems when the power comes back on. Fair enough.

That leaves one small problem, however. Turning off the air conditioning in June in the height of summer in Florida, Alabama, or other southern US states leaves residents exposed severe heat stress. Some groups are more at risk (senior citizens, those on medication) than others. However, it isn't pleasant for anyone.

At Sleepbreeze we're pleased to be able to introduce a cooling product- the Sleepbreeze personal cooler - that is so energy efficient that it runs from AA batteries for a number of hours. That means you can keep cool once the power grid has been switched off (or fails) and your home air conditioning system has ceased to operate.

One Florida resident explained the benefits of the Sleepbreeze cooler to us by contrasting its cooling sensation with the clawing heat and humidity that sets in as soon as the air conditioning packs up.

There's more good news.

We're all aware these days that the credit crunch and down turn in the economy is making it hard to justify spending money unless it really is essential.

So how would it be if the Sleepbreeze cooler could help you save money every night? Many Americans, even on middle incomes, are finding the cost of running domestic air conditioning to be a severe strain on their household budgets. If you haven't looked carefully at your utility bill recently, then now's the time. A large proportion of your domestic power consumption is down to the energy consumed by your air conditioning system. The Sleepbreeze cooler could help you lower your energy consumption significantly, night after night.

So, cooling indepedent of the grid and a way of lowering your nightly air con usage and saving money.

Interested? Of course you are.

We look forward to welcoming you to our secure online store shortly.

Sleepbreeze - supporting disaster relief in the US through the STAR-TIDES.net project

Posted by at 11:39 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

As the credit crunch bites deeper it's clear that more families than ever are considering camping in both the UK and Europe as a more affordable option.

For many this will be their first camping experience and there's a daunting amount of camping equipment to choose from. Not to mention the choice of camp sites - will you be at home in Britain, or will you be trying "Le Camping" in France.

Ok, you've all agreed to foresake hotel accommodation this year to save money, but have reservations about whether it is going to be comfortable in a tent. Let's not forget, it's meant to be a holiday! And you are meant to come home feeling relaxed.

Here's the problem.

One of the lessons that experienced campers learn is that once the sun hits the canvas of their tents the air temperature inside soon starts to soar, making the tent uninhabitable. Roughly speaking in England the sun gives an equivalent heat to a 1 kW electric bar fire for each square metre of canvas exposed to the sun.

Normally you'd pitch the tent so that a prevailing breeze wafts through the tent.

But what do you do if you're using a family tent with sleeping compartments deep within it? And for security you keep the zip done up, rather than let passers by see all your possessions inside. (I'll not mention the policeman that contacted us who mentioned a New Forest pony sticking its head through the tent door one morning.)

So how are you going to keep the tent cool enough? Well, a tent fan is the obvious answer. But there are tent fans and there are tent fans! Some just whisk hot, stale air around and around and resemble a deskfan. Let's leave them back in the office along with the fax machine and photocopier.

And then there is the Sleepbreeze personal cooler, a tent fan which was designed with comfortable camping and backpacking in mind. Consisting of a small, energy efficient fan which blows air down a 1 metre long duct, it allows you to place the fan outside the tent (or sleeping compartment), and the duct inside. That means that fresh air can be pumped into the tent. Keeping the tent cool, and helping keep your clothes fresh.

Some of you will be using campsites with all mod-cons, including mains electricity. That means you can run the Sleepbreeze from the mains. No mains electricity - no problem as the battery pack will keep the Sleepbreeze running for several hours between recharges.

The Sleepbreeze comes with all sorts of features that will help the camper. For example you may want to secure the tent door zip whilst you are out for the day. The Sleepbreeze fan unit has 2 attachement points to make this possible, leaving the fan still able to pump in fresh air whilst allowing you to secure your belongings. If you want to sling the Sleepbreeze up inside your tent then the same fixing points can be used, as well as the carry pouch drawstring.

So, in essence the Sleepbreeze personal cooler is the ultimate tent fan that will make for comfortable camping in summer weather.

Sleepbreeze helping keep your tent cool and fresh.

Happy camping to you all.

Andy

Posted by at 2:06 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Play again and scroll forward to about 93 minutes.

Thanks Chris for inviting Sleepbreeze onto your show.

Posted by at 7:26 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)