I’ve struggled with insomnia for so long as I can bear in mind. I’ve tried principally each sleep assist available on the market, plus I would like a sound machine, sleep masks, blackout curtain, and weighted blanket to even start the method of attempting to go to sleep. So I made a decision to attempt one thing new.
Earlier than mattress, on and off for the previous a number of months, I have been carrying Somnee, a wearable sleep tech headband that goals to map the mind utilizing EEG (electroencephalogram) sensors to ship individualized therapeutic stimulation to assist promote sleep.
The rechargeable headband costs nightly on a dock, that includes sticky hydrogel electrodes for the band that have to be changed each few nights. Nightly, I wore the Somnee for quarter-hour, the place my mind was “mapped” utilizing these EEG sensors and Somnee’s algorithms to provide a 15-minute customized therapeutic stimulation (particularly, tACs, or transcranial alternating present stimulation) session at bedtime.
{Photograph}: Molly Higgins
Mainly, fixed, very low electrical currents (1 milliampere at 5 to 10 hertz) ship stimulations to the mind by way of hydrogel electrodes on my brow to evoke sleepiness and promote more healthy sleep at night time. Somnee claims the stimulation is customized in actual time, responding and shifting primarily based by myself mind’s rhythms, with a view to make the mind optimum for a restful night time’s sleep. The wearable tech is linked to an app (subscription required, see under), the place you may monitor the “section” of the session you’re in and think about session experiences, log your sleep journal, and monitor sleep tendencies over time.
Usually, I discovered myself falling asleep sooner on nights I used the gadget, however not essentially staying soundly asleep all night time. I’m skeptical of simply how customized {the electrical} stimulation periods are, however Somnee was profitable in getting me to go to sleep. Though perhaps not in the way in which the corporate supposed. Most of all, I discovered that Somnee was an effective way to enhance my sleep hygiene—that means, staying in step with a pre-bedtime routine and enacting wind-down practices to manage the physique to be prepared for sleep.
“Neural Synchrony”
{Photograph}: Molly Higgins
Somnee makes use of sensors and algorithms to get a common map of your mind and delivers a 15-minute, customized electrical stimulation session. The identical noninvasive electrical stimulation approach is used for every thing from focused muscle restoration to extra common problems like nervousness. The gadget’s stimulation reacts in actual time to every particular person’s mind rhythms to optimally steadiness “sleep inertia, length, and depth,” based on Somnee’s web site.