The Neuroon Smart Sleep Mask is perhaps one of the coolest sleep gadgets out there. It tracks and analyses your sleep, telling you any points during the night where you awake, keeping track of your sleep stages and monitoring your heart rate.
Now I know what you’re thinking, there are already other devices that can tell you about your sleep, apps on your phone even, but Neuroon doesn’t just inform you, it helps you get the rest you need, and transforms your entire sleeping world.
Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, but why would I want one? And I suppose I thought the same at first, but then think of how much of our lives we spend asleep, around a third!
We wouldn’t hesitate to buy something to enhance our waking lives, even if we knew it was only going to be a five minute wonder, so I thought it might be worth giving the Smart Sleep Mask a try, especially if it could improve a third of my life. The only downside seemed to be the price, around $300! So is it worth it?
Neuroon adapts to YOU
It works alongside your lifestyle, so even if you work crazy shift hours, or travel regularly for business or just leisure, it will make sure you can still get the sleep you need, even if you can’t sleep at regular times.
It has a jet lag setting that allows you to enter your flight details, and time of arrival. It then works out a plan to help you get rest and adjustment. Not only that but then when you’re awake it gives advice on how to continue your adjustment.
Or if you’ve worked a shift when you would usually be resting, or if you just had a particularly rough night, it can help you plan a nap to be the most beneficial it can be. It can tell you when to have your nap, and how long to nap for. The reason you might find it difficult to sleep if your lifestyle involves an irregular sleeping pattern is that your body clock is out of sync. It can’t keep up.
You might know that your body clock is regulated by a hormone called melatonin, I won’t bore you but basically melatonin levels rise and fall depending on light, so we naturally fall asleep when it’s dark and awake in the morning when the sun has risen.
The Neuroon Sleep Mask works by controlling light, and by extension your melatonin levels.
So if you need a nap, you have the darkness you need to fall asleep, but then a simulated sunrise to wake you up feeling like you woke up naturally. You’ll feel a lot more awake if you’ve come out of your slumber gradually, to the slow brightening of ‘sunrise’ than you will waking up with a start to a shrill alarm tone.
The battery only lasts one night
As technology goes, this is a pretty impressive battery life. There aren’t many products we could name that would last a whole night of being constantly used.
This does mean that you’ve got to charge it each day though, if you want to want to use it the following night that is (which, let’s face it, if you’ve spent over $300 on it you probably will!). Admittedly this can be quite annoying if you forget to put it onto charge before you head out for the day, as the likelihood is that it lose power half way through the next night.
But making it a part of your routine, just plugging it in as soon as you’ve taken it off in the morning will mean that it will be ready to use every evening. Think of it like your phone, we wouldn’t go to sleep without plugging it in to charge, because we need to use it the next day – this sleep mask is the same, only we should plug it in the morning because we need to use it throughout the night.
The Neuroon mask can help you lucid dream
If you’re interested in lucid dreaming this is a definitely a gadget to put on the Christmas list. Most people spend a load of time trying different techniques to induce a lucid dream, but the Neuroon Sleep Mask makes it almost effortless.
You already know that it tracks your sleep stages, but even more impressive is that it has a lucid dreaming setting that triggers gentle flashing lights during REM sleep. Don’t panic, they wont wake you up, they’re just enough to tell the brain that you’re dreaming, so you can achieve the self awareness in dreams that so many people seek.
And what’s more, the Neuroon continues to encourage lucidity by including a dream diary in the app! It’s the ultimate device for lucid dreamers.
Accuracy might drop if you toss and turn
If you’re a particularly active sleeper, and toss and turn all night, it might be that the sleep mask sensors lose contact. If this happens a bright green light will shine, which would be quite irritating if you’re trying to sleep. Obviously you can’t control how you sleep, so if you do happen to be a wriggler, it might just be a case of making sure the mask is on firmly and hoping for better results.
This might also lead to false readings of your nights sleep. You might look back over the analysis of your sleep the next morning and find that the Neuroon says you’ve been up half the night, when in actual fact you were just moving around a bit more than most people would.
It’s a conversation starter
As silly as it sounds, it is a good way to get talking to people. It’s an unusual device compared to the usual flimsy eye masks they give out for free on planes, and if it you wear it somewhere public like on a flight, you might just find someone asking ‘what is it?’ as you go to put it on.
People will be curious, and it’s definitely a gadget you can brag about. We all like to show off sometimes, there’s no denying it, and if you’ve spent $300 on your Neuroon, you probably wont turn down an opportunity to boast about your new toy. As great as it is, it’s not something many people will have, and you’ll be the most kitted out person on that flight.
Summary of the Neuroon review
So, the Neuroon Smart Sleep Mask makes sleep work around you, it helps you feel rested and energetic, and is a lot nicer to wake up to than an alarm. If you’re a vigorous sleeper this product might not appeal to you as much, but the only real downside is the price. I won’t deny it’s a lot of money.
But it is something that can benefit both your sleeping life, including your dreams, and also your waking days – you need adequate rest to function. When you look past the initial shock of the price tag, and focus instead on how it can better your days, it is definitely worth it.