ZubZub

Sleep is vital for children's behaviour and ability to learn. Every parent understands how hard it can be to get their child off to sleep at night and have them stay asleep for a good night’s rest. Overstimulation from our screen and technology heavy world results in restlessness and tantrums on having to miss out. How can we help children to switch off? Can technology play a positive role?

ZubZub can help children wind down through the phenomenon of heart entrainment, people's natural synchronisation with external rhythms. It is an effect that has been observed powerfully between mother and child. Music works in a similar way, with downbeat music calming us and altering our physiological response. ZubZub works like music but uses a tactile stimulus, rather than an audio one. This means that it can work without sound and in a more controllable way.

ZubZub will be a connected toy which the child wears and that provides a gentle calming rhythm. It can be based on their resting heart rate or that of their parent, which will be read via heart rate sensors. A feedback loop between their own heart rate and the rhythm from ZubZub can gradually reduce their rate. It slows them down and calms them, so you can get them ready for bed and off to sleep more easily.