Sleep quantity is a common topic, quality of sleep, less so. A new product from a neuroscience and neurotechnology startup called Rythm, with offices in France and San Francisco, is addressing the difference with its first product. Billed as the “first active sleep wearable,” Dreem is padded headband that has a band over the top of your head and another, thinner band that crosses your forehead.
Dreem is not designed to help people fall asleep. What it does is monitor your brainwaves with EEG sensors and transmit the data to an iOS smartphone app that constructs a hypnogram: essentially a graph of your sleep stages. While you are in the deep sleep stage, the headband transmits precise sound via bone conduction that is synchronized with your brain to help you stay in deep sleep, which is the cycle when memory consolidation, cellular regeneration, and hormone regulation occur, according to Rythm.
The Dreem headband supports both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. A rechargeable Li battery lasts for about 12 hours and the device can store approximately 10 nights worth of sleep data without synchronizing with an associated iPhone. Android phones are not supported at this time.
Rythm is scheduled to release the first version of Dreem in a program called “Dreem First” in mid summer 2016. The full commercial release won’t occur until 2017. If sleep quality matters more to you than the absolute hours you get, the Dreem could be an interesting aid. The company is very clear that Dreem is not a medical device and shouldn’t be used by people with neurological issues or by pregnant women.
