I Tested a $349 Headband to Take a Power Nap. It Put Me Right Out
Nothing grabs my attention more than being asked to take a nap in the middle of the workday. I love naps, especially naps. It’s the perfect break to keep me motivated to continue my day. So when I was asked to try out a headband designed to help you sleep on demand, I was excited to give it a try.
This headband, from a company called Elemind, is stylish and comfortable. Price: $349 (plus an optional subscription fee for access to sleep data), it’s also very expensive. It contains a lot of technology: an EEG function to read your brain waves, artificial intelligence to interpret and respond to brain activity, and audio output to provide you with hypnotic sounds. The best way I can describe it is that it sounds like a low-pitched, rhythmic buzz that you can also feel. It doesn’t intrude or distract; it feels like a light massage.
“It basically eliminates the noise in those brain waves that keep you awake,” Meredith Perry, co-founder of Elemind, told me.
I’ve worked in the sleep industry for many years and have tried all kinds of gadgets and products that claim to help you sleep better. To be honest, not many of them work the way they’re supposed to. Naturally, I’d love to see if Helmand headband Does it work, or does it make it onto the list of products I’ve tested and failed. Here’s what I found.
TestElemind
I arrived at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York for a quick break. Perry greeted me at the entrance to the room and took the time to explain the technology behind the Elemind and show me how to properly put the headband on and turn it on. She also showed me how the app works and the data you can access while wearing the headband. Then she left me to go to bed.
I’ll briefly describe what happened next because – spoiler – I fell asleep. I remember lying down and hearing a low humming sound similar to bone conduction. I could hear the buzzing, but I could also feel it. At first, the pace was fast, but as I started to get hooked, I felt the pace slow down. Next I was woken up by the sound of the room door opening. Perry beamed because she knew from my half-open eyes and confused look on my face that the headband was working.
Naps are short. We set the headband to 25 minutes. This is not my typical nap. Rather than entering deep sleep, I felt like I was in an alpha state—like light sleep, I was still aware of my surroundings.
When I woke up, I felt exactly like I usually feel after a nap, a little groggy. This feeling only lasted a few minutes and I continued about my day without any side effects or drowsiness.
This is the first sleep technology device I’ve seen that targets brain waves and redirects them in real time. Elemind-affiliated research shows that 76% of people who wear headbands fall asleep fasterit does for me.
What does the data say?
According to the data I received during my naps (reviewed by neuroscientists at Elemind), my alpha wave activity remained high during naps, indicating that while I was resting and in light sleep, I was not entering the deep sleep stages. I suspect this is the case with a 25 minute nap, which also matches my experience wearing the headband. (I’m aware of my surroundings, but in a light sleep state, kind of like what I feel when I wake up in the morning.)
The image above (Elemind calls it a plot) is a polar histogram showing how well the headband performed in tracking my alpha waves. The plot on the left shows the target onset phase and the distribution of all stimuli (grey bars). On the right is a similar plot, but for the target stimulus offset phase.
More simply, “Onset is the phase of the brain waves at the beginning of each sound pulse, and offset is the phase of the brain waves at the end of each sound pulse,” says Ryan Neely, vice president of science and research at Elemind. All this means is that the headband is working as expected (more pulses at first when my brain wave activity is higher, then lower pulses when I reach target brain wave activity (224 degrees).
These data confirm what I felt during my nap—that I was getting a light sleep. I definitely felt like I was resting and I felt like I fell asleep very quickly (I felt like I was only asleep for a few minutes). I’d say it was a pretty good nap, especially as it was only a 25 minute nap at 2pm, and I was curious if it would put me into a deeper sleep at night in the comfort of my home.
How does Elemond work?
The headband is designed to help users fall asleep by targeting alpha wave activity with sound pulses. This is a core feature of a patented algorithm developed at MIT and built into each band. Perry explains that the headband uses non-invasive neuromodulation technology to track your EEG brain activity and deliver acoustic stimulation in real time that is synchronized with your brain’s natural rhythms. Every night you wear the headband, it learns more and evolves with you through its artificial intelligence capabilities, becoming more effective over time.
The artificial intelligence behind the headband (which Elemind calls Sleep Tailor) can learn your unique brain activity and sleep patterns to improve your rest. It collects your sleep data and analyzes it to generate stimulation patterns to counteract your brain activity.
The headband can be worn all night and is comfortable enough in all sleeping positions. Users can use Elemind in any way that suits their needs. For example, you can wear the headband only when you fall asleep and take it off at night, or you can choose to wear the headband only when you wake up and need help falling back asleep. You can also use Elemind to take naps during the day.
To experience all the features of Elemind, it is recommended that you wear it all night. You’ll be able to use it to help you fall asleep, with real-time sleep staging, which will generate a comprehensive sleep report after a session and get you back to sleep faster if you wake up earlier than expected. Soon, Elemind will also feature deep sleep stimulation, which will amplify delta waves during slow-wave sleep.
Is Elemond comfortable?
I found the Elemind headband to be very comfortable. It’s made from soft material and is adjustable on the back so you can make it tighter or looser to your liking. It should be tight enough so that it doesn’t fall off, but not so tight that it makes sleeping uncomfortable. I spent most of my time napping on my back, so I didn’t have any issues with it slipping off. I did lie on my side for a while and couldn’t feel it moving or gathering.
To get an accurate reading, you just need to make sure the sensor is in contact with your forehead. If you have long hair, Perry recommends wrapping it around your neck and under your hair, then gently sliding it over your forehead and behind your ears.
Is Elemond worth buying?
Whether or not the Elemind headband is worth your money depends on several factors.
You might like Elemind if:
- You travel frequently and suffer from jet lag
- you find it difficult to sleep
- You wake up frequently during the night and have difficulty falling asleep
Elemind may not be right for you if:
- You find the slight buzzing on your forehead too distracting
- You don’t have problems falling or staying asleep
Where can I buy Elemind headbands?
you can Pre-order Elemind on their website. According to Perry, the headbands that are part of the company’s testing program have already begun shipping, and headbands pre-ordered in December will begin shipping in January.
In addition to the device’s $349 price tag, there’s an optional membership to access sleep tracking, scores, and metrics. Even without a membership, you can still use the headband’s core functionality of falling asleep and falling back asleep faster. When you purchase a headband, you get your first month of service for free. You can choose to pay an annual membership fee, which costs approximately $7 per month, or pay in monthly installments of $13.
