Window blackout panels create the ultimate quiet, dark environment. Kind of like a cave. And that’s one reason paleo thought leader Michelle Tam of Nom Nom Paleo put them in her bedroom (Check out this fantastic Businessweek story that mentions it). Michelle is a night-shift worker who is a hospital pharmacist in Palo Alto. When she’s trying to sleep during the day before her shift, she needs to make her room as quiet and dark as possible. She jumped at the chance to get a set of blackout window panels!

Window blackout panels for night shift workersNot only do they create a super sleep room, they made it instantly more energy efficient. Michelle installed the panels last month and found instant relief.

She posted on Facebook: “Nightshift workers! A complete pitch black room can be yours with an Indow Windows blackout window insert. I just had one installed and it’s AMAZING. I’m the happiest zombie on the block.”

People who live a Paleo lifestyle eat meats and vegetables, avoiding grains, dairy and sugar.

Many like to eliminate all artificial light at night too to decrease cortisol and promote good sleep. Michelle eats Paleo but is also a night-shift worker. America’s night-shift workers struggle mightily to get good sleep when the rest of the world is awake, out and about. More than 21 million wage and salary workers or 17.7 percent usually work an alternate shift that falls at least partially outside daytime work hours. And that has taken its toll. Roughly a third of the U.S. population suffers from some form of insomnia, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

nom nom paleoSleep deprivation is pervasive in the United States, said Sharon Keenan, director of The School of Sleep Medicine, Inc. in Palo Alto, a member of the Stanford University Center of Excellence for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Disorders. Society is built on an extended day with factories and other entities that run all night. And while people have adapted, “we have paid a price,” said Keenan, who spoke to Indow Windows about sleep deprivation.

We love that we make energy-efficient thermal inserts that create comfort and lower energy bills. We are happy we can offer a sleep-deprived nation the comfort of some good shuteye. A well-rested people is a happier people. As Michelle says here in her Surviving the Night Shift post, “We’ve had it in for a month and I LOVE it! Our bedroom is now like a cool, dark cave, and we’ve never slept better– no matter what time of day. It’s definitely a game changer, and you should check out the black out panels here.”

We think you should too!