- A gadget has been invented to convert users’ own brain waves into a symphony.
- When played before bed, it is said to greatly improve sleep quality
Forget relaxing lullabies: now you can sing yourself to sleep.
A gadget has been invented to convert users’ own brain waves into a symphony.
If you play it before bed, it is said to greatly improve sleep quality.
The MyWaves device was invented by leading neuroscientist Dr. Alain Destexhe after he accidentally discovered the strange phenomenon.
Studies now suggest that hearing the sound of your own brain activity – which is uniquely like a fingerprint – can improve the time you spend in REM.
A gadget has been invented to convert users’ own brain waves into a symphony. If you play it before bed, it is said to greatly improve sleep quality
This is an important part of the sleep cycle, just like when we process memories, develop our brains and dream.
To work, users must first spend a night with the MyWaves Pebble device on their forehead.
This then records the brain when it is in the deepest sleep and is in turn converted into three music tracks that mimic the waves.
Dr. Destexhe said the mind is like an “orchestra playing a thousand instruments” and the songs created often became warm Blade Runner-like symphonies.
For best results, the company recommends that users listen to the music created by the device for at least 30 minutes every night before bed.
MyWaves will unveil the technology at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and will launch properly next month, charging around £400 for the product.
To work, users must first spend a night with the MyWaves Pebble device on their forehead
The device records the brain when it is in the deepest sleep and in turn converts it into three music tracks that mimic the waves
Dr. Destexhe, an internationally renowned neuroscientist who has studied sleep for 30 years at the prestigious Université Paris-Saclay, said: ‘We have a science-backed technology that actually uses delta waves, which are connected in your brain to help you sleep. , to tell you all the activities of your sleep, from deep sleep to rapid eye movement (REM).
‘By selecting a very specific part of your (delta waves while you) sleep and turning it into music, we can produce music that triggers your brain to fall asleep faster, longer and better.’
Dr. Destexhe made the discovery accidentally while listening to recordings of his own brain waves during a flight for a research project.
Although he couldn’t sleep most of the time on the plane, he fell asleep – and the same thing happened on the way back when he repeated the process.
Upon his return, he set up several studies to see if it had a similar effect on other people.
The first was a blind test with his students, in which he gave them six recordings – three of their brains and three of others’.
He said: ‘We asked them to try and tell them which one they found more efficient at getting them to sleep and they clearly pointed to their own sleep, even though they didn’t know whose it was. I thought ‘wow!’.
Several people said they felt like they were dreaming more, which Dr. Destexhe was a good thing because ‘it indicates that sleep quality is generally better’.