New Technology Could Give You More Energy From Less Sleep

Don't change the quantity, change the quality.

New Technology Could Give You More Energy From Less Sleep

We’re told from an early age that eight hours of sleep is the optimal amount to give us enough energy to get through the next day. But for many of us, achieving this level of slumber can be nigh on impossible.

Whether we have busy work schedules, need to travel a lot, or just enjoy a good few nights out a week, we count ourselves lucky to get twenty winks a night, let alone forty. So how do we maximise the effect of just a few hours of sleep a night, to give us enough energy for the next day?

Scientists think they may have the answer, and it’s to do with boosting our brain waves.

According to the BBC, the brain goes through various stages of sleep each night, but the one that scientists are keen to dissect is ‘slow-wave sleep.’ This is the deepest stage of sleep, where we don’t dream or have any idea what’s going on around us. We’re essentially dead for a few hours.

However, the brain works incredibly hard during this process, as it transfers memories from our short-term to long-term memory, and carries out essential ‘maintenance’ whereby cortisol (stress) levels are lowered and the immune system is repaired. Scientists believe that by enhancing the effect of the slow waves, or at least getting our brain to reach the state of deep sleep quicker, can provide numerous energetic benefits.

One scientist, Jan Born, has previously conducted an experiment that saw some participants wear a headset during their sleep that delivered stimulating sounds, and some who received “sham stimulation,” once deep-sleep was achieved. The results found that participants who received genuine stimulation showed increased memory retention and lower stress levels than those who didn’t, suggesting our brain can, in fact, benefit from souped-up slow waves.

 

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But not all of us can be called up to take part in scientific studies, which is where companies such as French start-up Dreem, and Japanese tech giant Philips come in. They have both made headsets designed to be worn at night that deliver similar sound stimulation, or “pink noise,” with the aim of improving the quality of sleep.

Dreem launched its second-generation headset last month in the US, complete with companion smartphone that can give you a detailed report of the previous night’s sleep and what you can do next time you shut your eyes to reap greater benefits.

Philips’ chief scientific officer David White says his company’s headband can’t replicate a full night of good sleep, but it can at least maximise the effect of the sleep people do get, because “it is notoriously hard to convince sleep-deprived people to make the necessary lifestyle changes.”

Alternatively, Aurore Perrault from Concordia University in Montréal says we could all learn a thing or two from the way babies sleep. Newborns are often placed in beds that gently rock them off to the land of nod, so Perrault suggests us adults could benefit from the same rocking motion and has previously carried out a study that supports her hypothesis.

So while strapping on a pair of headphones and playing some Mozart might not be the best way to keep the brain ticking at night, playing something such as the sound of waterfalls could be your ticket to a more spritely tomorrow.

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