X

Sleep better at night by using this headband to train your brain during the day

The Urgonight headband helps people fall asleep 40% faster, and will be released later this year.

Alison DeNisco Rayome Managing Editor
Managing Editor Alison DeNisco Rayome joined CNET in 2019, and is a member of the Home team. She is a co-lead of the CNET Tips and We Do the Math series, and manages the Home Tips series, testing out new hacks for cooking, cleaning and tinkering with all of the gadgets and appliances in your house. Alison was previously an editor at TechRepublic.
Expertise Home Tips, including cooking, cleaning and appliances hacks Credentials
  • National Silver Azbee Award for Impact/Investigative Journalism; National Gold Azbee Award for Online Single Topic Coverage by a Team; National Bronze Azbee Award for Web Feature Series
Alison DeNisco Rayome
2 min read
7yue20xb

The Urgonight headband trains your brain during the day to sleep better at night.

Urgotech

Up to 70 million Americans suffer from chronic insomnia, and a French health tech startup wants to help us train our brains during the day to sleep better at night. The Urgonight padded headband measures your EEG via an app, and uses games to teach you how to control the brain waves that impact sleep. In clinical trials, the device's neurofeedback method helped people fall asleep 40% faster, and cut nighttime sleep interruptions by half, Guirec Le Lous, CEO of parent company Urgotech, told CNET at CES 2020. The device allows you to take advantage of this method at home, instead of in a sleep lab, he said.

The Urgonight, which is on display at CES 2020 in Las Vegas this week, is one of a growing number of sleep tech products that aim to help people get more shut-eye. Many apps (such as SleepScore, Sleep Cycle and Sleep Time) and fitness bands (including several Fitbit models, the Apple Watch, the Motiv Ring) can now track sleep patterns, as do smart mattresses and bedside sensors. More companies are also using tech that taps brain waves to improve everything from meditating to studying to working out, so this combination of the two makes sense -- at least in terms of what's trending in the tech world.

Read more: The three best ways to track your sleep

"You have many products that are tracking sleep," Le Lous said. "With Urgonight, we're going to help you improve your sleep, and train your brain to learn to sleep better."

The headband and app (available for iOS and Android) use neurofeedback therapy to show you a real-time display of your brain activity to teach you how to identify and change behaviors through different exercises. It's designed to be used for 20 minutes a day, three days a week. So, it's something you can do at convenient times during your day, when you won't look strange wearing the headband. 

The exercises ask you to complete tasks such as drawing relaxing patterns. A virtual coach guides you through each one, and offers advice on how to improve your score. It takes about 10 to 15 sessions to begin to see results. You'll need 40 sessions for sustainable change, according to the company. However, it doesn't say how this number was determined. 

The headband is lightweight and easy to put on. Small electrodes automatically adjust to the size of your head, and no gel is needed. 

The Urgonight headband will be available in June, Le Lous said. It will cost $500 (about £380 or AU$720), according to the company.

Read more: How to get better sleep in 2020

Originally published Jan. 5.

Update, Jan. 6: Adds additional information from Le Lous. 

Watch this: 7 ways smart home devices can help you sleep better
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.