As the great philosopher, Homer, once said: "There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep". For some people, however, sleep can be elusive.

There are many reasons why people have difficulty in sleeping, from stress and illness, to pain and poor lifestyle choices. Another is travel. Time changes and long haul flights can pose annoying problems; who wants to be awake half the night at the beginning of their holiday?

There are a number of remedies to help you sleep. Some people mistakenly use alcohol, while others turn to sleeping tablets, herbs, or some of these new over-the-counter products. But there's something new on the market called the NightWave Sleep Assistant which provides an easy and alternative solution.

A small, non-invasive device, the NightWave encourages sleep by helping the user to naturally slow down their breathing in time to a pulsating blue light. How it works is simple. 

You place the device near to the bed (head end) so it projects on to a wall or ceiling, switch it on to sleep mode, look at the light (without staring) and go through a breathing technique in harmony with the pulsating light designed to relax you and encourage sleep. 

The breathing style is abdominal, meaning your belly expands and contracts with each breath, rather than your chest. You continue to relax, you breathe deeper and deeper, and follow as the wave slows down. When in sleep mode, the device switches off after seven minutes.

There are five modes in total, making this a multifunctional device. Mode 1 is a bedroom flash light which lasts for three minutes, mode 3 is a lovely mood softener using a heart beat pulsing light and lasts for seven minutes. The last two include a longer and slower sleep mode, which lasts for 25 minutes, and another mood light which lasts for 30.

Getting the hang of the breathing technique may take a while, but once you crack it the next step is a deep state of relaxation and then sleep. For anyone who's undertaken meditation, it's a similar style. 

Travelling with the light isn't a problem either. It is small, about the size of a very small mobile phone, it is silent and works on a single 9v battery. The only disadvantage is that being a light you can't use it on the plane!