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The application of far-infrared energy to skin is expected to lead to vasodilatation of the skin surface, consequently warming the skin, and promoting sleep induction. The purpose of this paper was to test whether bedsheets impregnated with bioceramic far-infrared technology would improve the perception of sleep in a sample of healthy adults.

Twenty-nine adults consented to participate, randomizing 17 to the far-infrared bedsheets and 12 to the control bedsheets. Two of the control participants dropped out prior to randomization and prior to completing any assessments and therefore are excluded from the analyses. After baseline assessment, participants slept on their randomly assigned sheets for five weeks, followed by a one week “wash out”. Insomnia symptoms were assessed with the Insomnia Severity Index, depression symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire, “vigor” and “fatigue” with the Profile of Mood States, and napping behavior with daily sleep diaries.

During the period of randomization, the participants on the far-infrared sheets reported fewer insomnia symptoms and less napping. This advantage was lost during the wash out period.

Far-infrared technology produces benefits on reported sleep in healthy normal adults.

The University of Tampa Center for Leadership offers extensive leadership development activities, many of which are based on concepts derived from theories collectively referred to as “new science”. New science – those discoveries in the physical and biological sciences during the twentieth century that have challenged us to consider our world from the perspectives of quantum mechanics, self‐organizing systems, and chaos theory – have been translated into specific leadership development activities. Examples include: (1) a focus on heuristic models to guide leader behaviour; (2) the assessment of leadership competence from multiple, non‐averaged, perspectives in contrast to a top‐down or an “average” perspective; and (3) the use of live practice fields which incorporate many complex relationships among both issues and issue advocates to diagnose and learn about leadership effectiveness within organizations.