After a stressful day, a restless night is upon you. Lying in bed, you begin to dread the nightmares you are about to suffer through. You sigh with resignation, and mentally prepare yourself for the ordeal you know you will most certainly face. Is there anything you could do to remedy the situation? A device named iBand+ claims that there is.
The iBand+, a new piece of wearable technology, boasts an impressive array of functions: inducing lucid dreams, improving sleep, tracking sleep, waking up the wearer in an optimal condition using a smart alarm, and health tracking (Figure 1) (Urban Wearables, 2016). The most intriguing feature of the lot is the induction of lucid dreams.
Lucid dreaming is the act of being aware while dreaming (Hobson, 2009). The normally rare occurrence of lucid dreams can be increased by training your mind. The plots of the dreams themselves can be controlled by instituting conscious decision making into the normally subconscious dreaming process. Therefore, it can be concluded that the human mind can be in two states simultaneously: dreaming and waking (Hobson, 2009).
Accepting that lucid dreaming is in fact possible brings you one step closer to believing that the iBand+ might truly be able to do what it claims to. However, the method it uses to obtain the claimed results is still slightly ambiguous. Developers of the device describe the process of lucid-dream induction as follows:
- The device monitors your sleep phases by the use of biometric sensors including movement, heart rate, and body temperature.
- It combines this data with data from the electroencephalogram (EEG) sensor to recognize when you are in the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase. This is the phase in which the most lively dreams occur.
- When this phase is recognized, the pillow speakers and the LED lights induce lucid dreams using sound and light patterns (Urban Wearables, 2016).
The cortex attempts to find meaning, from the signals it receives during REM sleep, through dreams. The cortex is the part of the brain that organizes and interprets information from the surrounding during wakefulness. The light and sound patterns from the device would target the cortex, which would interpret these signals to create the plot of the dream (National Institute of Health, 2014).
The process of lucid-dream induction may or may not hold merit since the lack of clinical research on the subject prevents us from knowing whether or not the method is credible. One of the major drawbacks to “non-medical” products such as the iBand+ is that clinical trials are not required before the release of the product. The entirety of the evidence of the product actually working would be solely based upon user-testimonials, which is a less than full-proof source of source of information.
In the words of Sigmund Freud, “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind (BrainyQuote, 2016).” However, if lucid dreaming is truly possible, dreaming could become much more than just a window to the subconscious; it could be the tool used to control various different applications including mood control, treatment of PTSD, and psychotherapy, in the near future. However, this advancement would depend on the success rate of the lucid-dream induction method, which would need to be tested using clinical studies.
Reference List
BrainyQuote, 2016. Sigmund Freud Quotes. [online] BrainyQuote. Available at: <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/s/sigmundfre403107.html> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
Hobson, A., 2009. Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up. [online] The Neurobiology of Consciousness. Available at: <http://www.bhcc.mass.edu/media/03-documents/lucid-dreams-hobson.pdf> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
iBand+., 2016. Dreams, Sleep! – iBand . [online] iBand . Available at: <http://www.ibandplus.com/> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
Kickstarter., 2016. iBand : EEG headband that helps you Sleep and Dream! [online] Kickstarter . Available at: <https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/arenar/iband-eeg-headband-that-helps-you-sleep-and-dream> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
National Institute of Health, 2014. Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. [online] National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Available at: <http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
Urban Wearables., 2016. The iBand Wearable Aims to Induce Lucid Dreaming. [online] Urban Wearables . Available at: <http://urbanwearables.technology/iband-wearable-aims-induce-lucid-dreaming/> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].
Van Ameringen , M., 2008. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Canada. [online] National Center for Biotechnology Information. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18801110> [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016].