The breathing exercises of sophrology are derived from Pranayama yoga techniques. Here are four reasons why falling asleep with Dodow involves more than doing simple breathing exercises:

1. Dodow gradually slows down your breathing to an optimal rate of 6 breaths per minute to put you in a state of rest and to re-balance your autonomic nervous system. The exhalation is 50% longer than the inhalation. Trying to follow your breathing yourself forces you to think and to count, which causes performance anxiety, thereby significantly delaying sleep.

2. The attention span of a person not used to meditating is thirty seconds at most, so you can very quickly become lost in your thoughts and forget to do the breathing exercise. Dodow's light signal keeps you on track!

3. Synchronizing one's breathing with a slow and steady light pulse has a hypnotic effect, similar to watching a pendulum, that helps you let go quickly.

4. Dodow helps you get out of your mind and slow down the flow of your thoughts by keeping your attention focused on an external point (the light signal), without your having to concentrate on your breathing - the emphasis is paradoxically placed on keeping you awake.We have no doubt as to the effectiveness of simple breathing exercises, but are less confident about the ability of our users to do them on their own ;)

Do not panic! Half the users fall asleep at the end of the session.

Dodow helps unlock the process of falling asleep and speeds it up. However, it would be unrealistic to expect a drastic reduction in the time taken to fall asleep, eg from 2hours to 2 minutes. 15 minutes instead of 2 hours can be considered a significant progress, as it takes a long time, up to several months using Dodow, to learn to fall asleep again within a couple of minutes.

The best thing to do is to remain PATIENT and to just place this intent in your mind: 'I will remain patient'. We cannot over-emphasize this word, as being patient is the best way to fall asleep quickly. It relieves you from the stress of having to fall asleep, which is a contributing factor of insomnia.

If the person's eyes are closed, they will not be disturbed; if they do the exercise with you, they will fall asleep very quickly.

Dodow's light signal is too dim to have any impact on the secretion of melatonin. Dodow's blue light will not delay your sleep; on the contrary, it has been shown that exposure to blue reduces stress. This is why we chose a blue light over an orange one.

Dodow was originally designed for stress-related sleeplessness but our tests show it works surprisingly well for jet lag or irregular sleep schedules.

Worries are not just a psychological problem; they have a physiological impact too, like when your palms start sweating in a stressful situation. Worrying can result in the hyperactivation of the autonomic nervous system, which releases neurotransmitters such as noradrenaline, which in turn play a role in keeping you awake.

Dodow works on two levels:

1. By breathing at a very slow pace (around 6 bpm), you stimulate the baroreflex, which helps regulate your autonomic nervous system.

2. Focusing your attention on the exercise allows you to put aside unwanted thoughts

Yes, although with their lesser breathing capacity, it will probably take them a little longer (2 or 3 sessions) to get used to the rhythm of slow breathing.

Dodow is particularly suited to people who are afraid of the dark, which is the case of numerous children and elderly populations.

Lying on your back makes you more receptive to the benefits of Dodow. If you do the exercise lying on your back until the end and then settle in your usual position if you are still awake, you will fall asleep very quickly.

Try resetting Dodow : simply remove the batteries and put them back. Make sure you put the middle battery in last and do not touch the touchpad at the same time.

So that the touchpad is well calibrated, we recommend not touching it when the batteries are being changed and waiting (2 seconds) for the second signal light before turning Dodow on.

Yes! What prevents you from falling asleep is not the noise in itself (unless you are attempting to fall asleep near a jackhammer), but both your attention and your reaction to the noise.

With Dodow, your autonomic nervous system is regulated and you are less distracted by external stimuli such as background noises.

What's more, the exercise and the light take up the best part of your attention, diverting it away from these noises. You gradually think less about them and forget them after awhile. You can then fall asleep.