I’ve struggled with insomnia for so long as I can keep in mind. I’ve tried mainly each sleep help available on the market, plus I want a sound machine, sleep masks, blackout curtain, and weighted blanket to even start the method of making an attempt to go to sleep. So I made a decision to strive one thing new.
Earlier than mattress, on and off for the previous a number of months, I have been sporting 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 expenses 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 offer 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 evening. Somnee claims the stimulation is customized in actual time, responding and shifting primarily based alone mind’s rhythms, with the intention to make the mind optimum for a restful evening’s sleep. The wearable tech is related to an app (subscription required, see beneath), the place you’ll be able to monitor the “part” of the session you’re in and examine session studies, log your sleep journal, and monitor sleep traits over time.
Typically, I discovered myself falling asleep sooner on nights I used the machine, however not essentially staying soundly asleep all evening. I’m skeptical of simply how customized {the electrical} stimulation periods are, however Somnee was profitable in getting me to go to sleep. Though possibly not in the best way the corporate meant. Most of all, I discovered that Somnee was an effective way to enhance my sleep hygiene—which means, staying in keeping 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 basic map of your mind and delivers a 15-minute, customized electrical stimulation session. The identical noninvasive electrical stimulation approach is used for every little thing from focused muscle restoration to extra basic issues like anxiousness. The machine’s stimulation reacts in actual time to every particular person’s mind rhythms to optimally steadiness “sleep inertia, length, and depth,” in line with Somnee’s web site.
