Advanced Products and Services has developed a device that has been shown to make fatigued or sleepy people more alert while driving and prevent them from falling asleep at the wheel. The device has been tested in the lab and in the field with alertness and behavioral performance measures and the positive effects confirmed by electric-encephalography (EEG) brain tomography. Over two hundred test subjects have evaluated the device with no reported microsleep episodes. Tests show that it is possible to chill specific areas of the body and disrupt the body's ability to self-regulate core temperature. A regulated core body temperature is necessary for the body to drift off to sleep.

The usage period is not intended to be unlimited and extended sleep deprivation is neither desirable nor healthy. However, during normal use, this device prevents users from falling asleep during critical tasks and also increases alertness during the performance of those tasks. Since there are numerous fatigue related accidents and fatalities while driving, the general introduction of this device has an important life saving potential.

What makes this product demonstrably superior to other existing or competing technologies?

Preventing motor vehicle crashes caused by fatigue and drowsiness has become a major focus of researchers interested in improving the safety and well-being of drivers, passengers, and other road users (Lin, et al, 2005). National polls indicate that 50% of drivers admit at least one incident of falling asleep while driving; statistics of fatigue related accidents indicate that the other 50% is lying to the pollsters. Economic trends for longer working hours and more extensive travel are expected to continue, increasing the needs for the life saving potential of the CDFF. An aging population of baby boomers is more susceptible to exhausting sleep apnea due to age, diet, and exercise issues. Fatigued drivers using the CDFF are therefore not merely awake, but have better reaction times and are more conscious of their environment.

Risk management strategies for drowsy driving vary in their objectives; that is, to minimize the probability of a crash occurring or to minimize injury severity if there is a crash. Crash prevention initiatives include a range of tactics designed to, at least partially, compensate for drivers’ impairments and help to minimize the risk of injury that is associated with a diminution in driving performance. One such tactic is to maintain a cool temperature in the car as a possible countermeasure to reduce sleepiness during prolonged and monotonous drives (Horne & Reyner, 1995).

The CDFF, while unique as a device, builds on solid science for its effectiveness. We have included many supporting papers in the Supporting Technical Data portion of our website. Longstanding research has shown that alertness and sleepiness are strongly coupled to thermoregulation in the distal extremities (Krauchi, et al, 2005). As distal temperatures increase, levels of sleepiness increase and, conversely, as distal temperatures decrease, levels of sleepiness decrease (Krauchi et al, 2005).

Until our device was invented, empirical research on this issue was lacking and reviews of sleep loss had not addressed the effects of ambient temperatures (e.g., cold versus warm) on driving performance except for tests involving full body chilling with air conditioners. Reyner and Horne (1998) asserted that common countermeasures employed by drivers to ameliorate the negative effects of fatigue and drowsiness, such as redirecting cold air directly onto the driver’s face via the vehicle’s air conditioning system, appear to be of “marginal and transient benefit”.   Similarly, NHTSA has identified the need for “additional information and research on measures that increase or restore driver alertness or reduce crash risk or incidence”.

There are various devices on the market, including those with a price of several thousand dollars that monitor head angle and driver actions as a measure of sleepiness.  Once algorithmically determined to be drifting off to sleep, the driver is alerted via vibration, sound, or lights.  Cheaper devices attached to the ear also alert the driver with vibration or noise also wake up sleepy drivers as they fall asleep and nod their heads.  The disadvantage of startling and waking up a sleeping driver, especially one driving at high speeds, is obvious. Even if successful, this approach does not address slow reaction times and a lack of alertness that increases accident risks during night time driving. Other alternatives to the CDFF are artificial chemical stimulants, and home remedies with, at best, short-lived effects. Chemical stimulants are prone to abuse are harmful even with moderate use. Home remedies, despite widespread general acceptance, really offer only a false sense of security to the severe and growing problem of serious driver fatigue.

How is the Fatigue Fighter Superior?

At its source, the Fatigue Fighter specifically counters intrinsic biological drives that have been embedded over eons to assure organisms can resist wide temperature variance, obtain rest and reproduce. The body’s natural tendency to fall asleep at night is locked into sidereal rhythms as old as the emergence of life on our planet. Altering the local temperature at the shin, a receptive sensory area lacking the ability to manage heat transfer effectively due to a lack of body mass, prompts the brain to alter core body temperature in an attempt to protect itself and critical internal organs. Since the rest of the body is not cold, the brain’s mechanism for maintaining internal temperature stability constantly varies the body core temperature in vain attempts to find a correct internal temperature. Sleep research has demonstrated that the body must reach and maintain a steady body temperature in order to drift off to sleep. The Fatigue Fighter blocks the body’s ability to reach that comfortable temperature.