A non-pharmacological and scientifically proven solution for people suffering from insomnia

Abstract

Persons spend on average one third of their life asleep. Getting enough sleep has a major impact on how a person looks, feels and functions on a daily basis. However, over the past century, there has been a consistent rapid decrease in sleep quality and an increase of sleep complaints among children, adolescents and the middle-aged population. Occasional sleep difficulties are normal, but evidence from various countries continues to demonstrate that recurring troubles with initiating or maintaining sleep – commonly referred to as insomnia – is often a highly persistent condition, affecting one in three adults. Pharmacological therapy has been widely used to treat sleep onset issues. However, the usefulness of these pharmaceutical agents for a long-term intervention is limited by their adverse side effects. Due to the limited amount of non-pharmacological and scientifically proven solutions for insomnia currently available on the market, there exists an unmet need for an effective, non-obtrusive and risk-free sleep inducing solution to support behavior and lifestyle change in problem sleepers and stressed individuals at a low threshold. Based on the observation that certain individuals fall asleep more easily when riding in a car or train, this project hypothesizes that the combination of auditory- and vibrotactile stimulation is an effective method to promote fast sleep onset and counteract high arousal or stress levels during to the process of initiating sleep. A Latin square, placebo-controlled, within subject design was executed with sixteen healthy normal- sleeping adults using both objective and subjective measurements of sleep onset latency and subjective measurements of change in stress and arousal levels. A Multiple Sleep Latency Test protocol was followed, which involved a full-day test that consisted of four scheduled daytime sleep attempts separated by a two-hour interval. The premature findings of the executed study provide some scientific basis for understanding the direct relationship between the combination of auditory- and vibrotactile stimulation and sleep onset latency. Although the objective measurements of this study demonstrated no statistically significant differences, there exist promising subjective effects, which stipulates a first step into the direction that monaural beats and vibrations can be used to improve and maintain health and wellbeing. To conclude, a product that utilizes monaural beats and vibrations during to the process of initiating sleep fills the need for a non-obtrusive, risk-free and easy-to-use sleep inducing solution. Although a selection of auditory- and vibrotactile parameters was found to be effective, the outcomes of the conclusive questionnaire indicated large discrepancies in how participants experienced the stimulation conditions, i.e. there were diverse subjective reports of having both increased difficulties as improvements with getting into sleep and/or maintaining a relaxed state of mind. Hence it can be concluded that the usefulness of monaural beats and vibrations depend heavily on personal preferences and are not conform to the one-size-fits-all approach. For that reason, persons who are suffering from insomnia and looking to enhance their sleep experience should be able to identify and use sound and vibration characteristics they enjoy as a self- administered complementary intervention to facilitate fast sleep onset and counteract high arousal or stress levels during to the process of initiating sleep. Moreover, there are an increasing number of companies that are launching products and applications that employ sensory stimulation techniques to improve sleep, but do so without providing any supportive evidence. In addition to that, many persons are still skeptical how much benefit wearables and sleep trackers really offer, as currently all they are focused on is collecting and displaying data. SoundSleep, the concept developed in this graduation project, intends to go beyond that, by enhancing a person’s sleep quality without having to spend more time in bed. This product encompasses a non- invasive mattress cover packed with smart responsive technology, which is able to provide a fully personalized- and invisible experience of monaural beats and vibrations. The incorporated technology is able to accurately track sleep and deliver stimulation to preferred parts of the body without the user having to be fixated to a device during the night. Hence SoundSleep enhances the sleep experience rather than limits the user in terms of sleeping positions and freedom of movement. What is powerful about SoundSleep is that it keeps sleep as much as possible to the basics; upgrades an object that is extremely familiar to all of us; functions on any mattress and hence every body; and does not require any new behaviors or complicated installations. The only thing users have to do is complete the bedtime routine as usual