If you’ve been wishing on a star for control over your sleep quality, Elemind might have your answer. It’s the latest sleep wearable, though it’s different from almost all others on the market. It’s a headband that uses electroencephalography sensors to read and stimulate brain waves to aid sleep.
EEGs have measured brain waves for more than 100 years, so it’s not new. What is new is what Elemind calls electric medicine: targeted, real-time changes in brain waves to help you fall asleep faster without the side effects that pharmaceuticals carry, like grogginess or dependency.
While there are other sleep headbands like Somnee, Elemind is the first to target brain waves and redirect them in real time. Research affiliated with Elemind found that wearing the headband helped people fall asleep 74% faster.
That’s a big claim I would generally be hesitant about believing. However, there is more research behind it than most products we see get announced. It currently has five clinical trials and several publications in scientific journals to support the tech.
I got a first look at the headband, which was sleeker than I expected. Here’s what to know about this science-heavy wearable that could be a game changer for groups like shift workers, frequent flyers and new parents who need predictable sleep each night.
How does Elemind work?
By this point, we all accept that smartwatches use sensors like an accelerometer and heart rate monitors to track vitals and sleep. Monitoring and changing brain waves is far beyond what your sleep tracker can do. And while it might sound like something from the future, it’s actually not that out there.
When you’re awake, your brain waves are naturally high frequency, and the waves slow as you transition into sleep. When you wear the Elemind headband, it uses precise acoustic neurostimulation (a fancy way of saying sound pulses) to disrupt the high-frequency waves associated with being awake and move them into slower waves for sleep.
It does this with soft, rubber EEG sensors across the forehead and on the side panels behind your ears. The center sensor is the bone conductor transducer that stimulates the brain with sound pulses through the forehead.
In the demo, Meredith Perry, CEO and co-founder of Elemind, compared the experience of wearing the headband to noise cancellation for the brain.
There are no timed sessions that you need to restart with Elemind. The headband is constantly reading your brain waves, allowing the sound pulses to come at specific times based on where your brain is in the falling asleep process. Once you’re asleep, the stimulation fades out over 1 to 2 minutes. So it’s not keeping you asleep like sleeping pills. You’ll wake up naturally and get on with your day.
To turn on Elemind, double tap an action button on the bottom to start it. If you wake up in the middle of the night, you can single-tap the button to restart stimulation. The headband will last a full night of sleep of EEG recording and about 2 hours and 20 minutes of active stimulation. It takes 3 hours to charge.
Elemind will be available for purchase for the first time for $349 and then a $7 monthly subscription, which is more affordable than expected. While it still isn’t what I would consider cheap, it’s in line with what most sleep devices out there cost.
What’s it like wearing Elemind at night?
If you’re like me, by this point, you’re probably wondering how you could fall asleep with a headband around your forehead. What if I knock it off? Does it stop working if it moves? According to Perry, after four and a half years and seven different prototypes, Elemind has over 896 nights of sleep and 96 naps in a clinical trial setting.
You can wear Elemind every night, no matter your sleeping position, because it’s made of flexible foam and fabric. The device is bendy and can tolerate shifting at night across the forehead thanks to the rubber sensors that give it a little grip. The only requirement for Elemind to work is for the sensors to be in contact with your forehead, so shifting up and down or back and forth isn’t something you have to worry about. The sensors have a “channel switching” feature that if one sensor is no longer reading, it moves to another one.
You also don’t have to worry about wearing it too tightly. It just has to touch your skin so you can adjust it to your comfort. One thing to beware of is that hair will impede readings. So if you have long hair, Perry advises putting it around your neck and then sliding it up.
Is Elemind a practical device for you?
Predictable quality sleep each night may soon be a reality with the Elemind AI-powered neurotech wearable headband. It’s currently the only device on the market that can read and immediately respond to your brain waves to help you achieve sleep faster. Despite making significant claims, I was impressed by how much science and testing Elemind has behind it.
It has the potential to give people more control over their sleep than ever before and lessen the need for supplements and sleeping pills. People who have nontraditional work hours or have poor sleep habits could potentially benefit from what Elemind has to offer. And while most people would agree they could use predictable, natural sleep each night, it probably won’t be for everyone.
Like any other sleep wearable, you should expect Elemind to feature firmware updates and even drop new versions in the future. The initial beta period will have additional features rolled out over the first few weeks, like deep stimulation to maximize the time spent in deep sleep. Sleep trends and analysis will also be available via the app.