Programmable sleep

Things are starting to get exciting in sleep research! The emergence of new devices for tracking, monitoring, and measuring sleep at home has jump-started commercial enthusiasm. Sleep is one of those fundamental human needs that is both puzzling and hard to control. We have some not very effective pharmaceuticals to help with insomnia and other conditions, but they are widely known to be suboptimal.

Enter neuromodulation! Over the last decade or so, researchers have begun to use non-invasive methods to modulate the sleep-wake cycle. Some of these interventions are as simple as a sound played at specific times during slow-wave sleep. Others are quite targeted, using non-invasive transcranial ultrasound to specifically target deeper structures in the brain and more precisely modulate the sleep cycle.

With all of the new funding and research fueling this exploration, including devices in development now, it is likely that sleep modulating devices will be available for clinical use by 2025, with more sophisticated devices that will allow for the “programming” of sleep experiences for individuals by 2030.

To learn more, check out our blog on Decoding Sleep. And for a deeper dive, view our webinar on the same topic.