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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/898
128 MacDirectory
CLOSER LOOK
ARE YOU TIRED, RUNDOWN, LISTLESS? > PUT SOME PZIZZ
IN YOUR LIFE
Do you suffer from insomnia? Do you find
yourself running out of energy during the
day, and using artificial stimulants like
caffeine and sugar to try to pep yourself
up? Are you too exhausted at the end of
the workday to do little more than plop
on the couch and stare at the television?
When you finally do fall asleep, do you
toss and turn, your mind still to much on
the stresses of daily life to completely
settle down?
Then you need some Pzizz!
Pzizz is the newest technological
advance in relaxation techniques. A fully
downloadable computer program, Pzizz
has a two-fold mission. The first is to
increase relaxation so that subjects
suffering from insomnia or stress can get
a full night's sleep. The second is to
increase people's productivity during the
workday using a popular technique called
"power napping."
Matthew Ashenden, the inventor of Pzizz,
had been a part of the relaxation industry
for over 15 years when he decided to work
on a product that would take rest to the
next level. He told
MacDirectory, "There
were a lot of great relaxation products out
there, but what I noticed was that they all
failed in certain areas." One of those areas
had to do with users finding the time to
do a full relaxation session, and the other
was boredom.
Ashenden explained, "Most products
required you to use them for a certain
period of time for them to work. I wanted
people to be able to create whatever
length of experience they wanted. If you
had 15 minutes you could have a 15-
minute nap, if you had 50 minutes you
could have a 50-minute nap and no
matter what you would always have a
complete experience."
He then went on to discuss the boredom
issue, telling us that "the subconscious
mind gets incredibly bored incredibly
quickly." Therefore listening to the same
soundtrack repeatedly – even though it
still might work – simply would not
provide "that deep relaxation that relieves
stress and helps you get rid of all the stuff
you deal with during the day."
As for the power napping, Ashenden found
that a little more complicated. Scientists
have long maintained that power napping
is a great way to increase productivity and
keep decision-making abilities sharp. But
how could that be translated into a
relaxation tape that simultaneously relaxed
and energized its users?
The way this was ultimately handled, said
Ashenden, "was by taking the existing
structure of the relaxation process and
breaking it down into very small
segments of voice, music and sound
effects to create an algorithm that could
read these individual sections in a
structured random manner."
Once the design for Pzizz was completed,
it was time to find test subjects. The first
users were the individuals who designed
it, followed by "everyone we knew." From
there "we launched the software to the
Mac community – so we were initially
exposing this software to a bunch of
computer geeks." Ashenden figured this
demographic would take the product
"with a grain of salt" but to his surprise,
"they have been just loving it!"
Since then Pzizz's market has broadened,
with testimonials coming in from high-
powered record producers, to business
executives, to performers in Cirque de
Soleil in Las Vegas.
Users who would like to experience the
power of Pzizz for themselves can go to