It might sound like an idea that gets revealed on April Fools' Day but this is actually real. Netflix has created socks that detect when you fall asleep so they can pause what you're watching.

We've all been there, dozing off while desperately trying to finish a TV show marathon in the wee small hours. Falling asleep and then realising one of the great things about Netflix, it's ability to continue where you left off, fails as you have no idea when you nodded off and nor does Netflix.

The socks were built as a prototype by Netflix, meaning you can't buy them. But fret not, Netflix has simple DIY plans online meaning you can make your own pair.

The socks use an accelerometer based system to detect a lack of movement. Since you might sit still for a while anyway there's a small LED that will flash when the socks think you're asleep and they're are about to pause the show. Move and it will restart. So in a way these will help you to keep blood flowing through regular movement too.

While we doubt the socks will be hitting shop shelves anytime soon, this is a great idea that could easily be implemented in smart wearables. Plenty of them are already built for sleep monitoring, all they'd need is some software tweaking. Until then we’re off to potentially destroy some socks in an attempt at making our very own Netflix Socks.

Follow the how-to build instructions on Netflix.

READ: Where can you watch 4K streams right now? Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, and more