Timeshifter is recognized by Fast Company for its accomplishments in translating sleep and circadian neuroscience into real-world tools with the potential to improve the lives of billions of people.
NEW YORK, NY (May 4, 2021) — Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced today from a pool of more than 4,000 entries, honoring the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation for the good of society and the planet.
Timeshifter, the creator of the world’s first technology platform for circadian time, received an honorable mention. Timeshifter enables people to proactively “shift” their circadian clock quickly or “shift” the timing of an activity to the optimal circadian time. This gives Timeshifter the unique and patent pending ability to solve several universal and multi-billion-dollar problems.
Timeshifter has already solved jet lag with an app it launched in 2018 — now the most-downloaded and highest-rated jet lag app in the world. Later in 2021, Timeshifter will launch a new app to help shift workers optimize their sleep, alertness, health, and quality of life. At least 20% of the global labor force are shift workers, changing to a new schedule soon after they adapted to the previous one, or never adapting at all. Timeshifter has also begun strategic work in the field of peak performance and chronotherapeutics that aims to treat illnesses according to circadian rhythms.
Our circadian clock controls almost every biological system in our bodies — from our sleep-wake cycle and mood and performance patterns to our metabolic, immune, and reproductive systems, and even many of our genes: By including Timeshifter as an honoree, Fast Company highlights the growing consensus that circadian science is the new frontier in human performance and personalized medicine.
“This acknowledgement will not only help Timeshifter continue our momentum, but also puts an important spotlight on the entire circadian field. Many are not yet aware of the universal and profound implications our circadian rhythm has on our performance, safety, and health, but this will change quickly - as we have seen with sleep over the last ten years, which is now a half-a-trillion-dollar economy.”
“As we learn more about circadian rhythms, their importance in maintaining our health and wellbeing is becoming increasingly clear. Not long into the future, measuring and accounting for the differences in our individual circadian rhythms will become commonplace in all aspects of our lives, from when to sleep and exercise, and what and when to eat, to the interpretation of blood tests or when to take medications.”
“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems. Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects.”
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About the World Changing Ideas Awards:
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact.
About Timeshifter:
Timeshifter is the leader in translating circadian neuroscience into products and services to empower billions of people to improve their safety, health, and performance. In June 2018, Timeshifter launched its first service — now the most-downloaded and highest-rated (4.7 out of 5 stars) jet lag app in the world. Based on more than 70,000 post-flight surveys, travelers who followed Timeshifter's advice versus travelers who didn’t follow their Timeshifter plan were 17 times less likely to report very severe jet lag. Later in 2021, Timeshifter will launch a new app to help shift workers optimize their sleep, alertness, health, and quality of life. At least 20% of the global labor force are shift workers, changing to a new schedule soon after they adapted to the previous one, or never adapting at all. Timeshifter has received several awards and recognition, including the National Sleep Foundation's 2019 SleepTech® Award, Health Magazine's 2020 Sleep Award, and an honorable mention of Fast Company's 2021 World Changing Ideas. Partners include United Airlines, SAP, CTW, Amadeus, Six Senses, Tripadvisor, TravelPerk, Montblanc, and Haven Life. Investors include former NASA Astronauts Michael López-Alegría and Mike Massimino, Chief Medical Officer for Axiom Space, Dr. Smith Johnston, Chairman of Air Canada, Vagn Sørensen, legendary race driver with 9 Le Mans wins, Tom Kristensen, and entrepreneur and endurance GT car racer, John Shoffner. For more information, visit www.timeshifter.com
About Steven W. Lockley, Ph.D.:
Dr. Steven Lockley is a Neuroscientist in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School. He is also a Professor and VC Fellow at the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey in the UK, and an Affiliated Faculty member of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health. He received his B.Sc. (Hons) in Biology from the University of Manchester, UK in 1992 and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Surrey, UK in 1997. With over 25 years of research experience in circadian rhythm and sleep, Dr. Lockley is a specialist in ways to reset the circadian clock, particularly the role of light and melatonin. He has studied the effects of light on the circadian pacemaker extensively including the role of light wavelength, timing, duration and pattern. This work has led to development of ‘smart’ lighting applications designed to improve alertness, safety and productivity, translation of the physiological effects of light into architecture and design, and light therapies for several clinical disorders. Dr. Lockley has also studied the impact of circadian disruption, long work hours, sleepiness and sleep disorders on performance and health in occupational groups, including doctors, police and firefighters, and has led several workplace interventions that have reduced workplace errors and injury. He also advises NASA on how to alleviate jet lag for astronauts traveling the globe and how to reduce the problems associated with shift work at NASA Mission Control. Dr. Lockley has published more than 180 original reports, reviews, chapters and editorials on circadian rhythms and sleep and his research is funded by NASA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among others. He has won a number of awards including the NASA Johnston Space Center Director's Innovation Team Award (as part of the ISS Flexible Lighting Team). He co-edited the first textbook on sleep and health ‘Sleep, health and society: From Aetiology to Public Health’ and co-authored ‘Sleep: A Very Short Introduction’ from Oxford University Press. For more information, visit Dr. Lockley’s Harvard faculty profile