Nowadays, we have so many things to do each day and we’re being bombarded with huge amounts of information and activities that, at the end of the day, we sometimes find it even hard to fall asleep. In the past, we featured here on TechPP a bunch of solutions to help you with that, such as sleep headphones, specialized apps or an innovative gadget that can improve your sleep by monitoring your bed environment.
Today, we’re going to talk about Sleep Shepherd, a fresh Kickstarter project which, simply put, is a ‘special hat’ that can help you fall asleep. A more detailed explanation is that the Sleep Shepherd sleep hat monitors your brainwaves and uses a biofeedback system to guide your brain toward a sleepy state. And here are some more details about how it works:
The Sleep Shepherd is unique in that it works with your brain’s natural structure to slow your brain down and guide you to sleep. The hat incorporates Virtual Hammock Technology invented by Dr. Michael Larson. This technology induces a rhythmic sensation of side-to-side swaying by utilizing the natural workings of the brain’s auditory center.
Specialized nerves hard-wired in the part of our brain stem called the medial superior olive (MSO) get excited when they are stimulated by signals arriving from our two ears. The rhythmic pulse you ‘hear’ when wearing the Sleep Shepherd is actually your brain deciphering the difference in frequency between the two tones that are played into either ear. This natural ability, contained within our brain’s structure, creates a soothing sensation of swaying back and forth as though the wearer is in a hammock.
The founders say thatSleep Shepherd is unlike any other sleep aid on the market as it utilizes real time data in an innovative biofeedback loop to help the wearer naturally fall asleep without having to make use of habit-forming drugs. The gadget doesn’t interfere with the chemical balance of the brain, and can be worn as often as needed without the negative side effects of pharmaceutical approaches.
Currently, the gadget is seeking crowdfunding, but it is set to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this January. Have a look at the the presentation video from below or go ahead and buy it for just $119. If you miss that price, then you will be able to get it for $139.