These sleep googles by a company called Sana Health cost a lot more than your typical mask, but it promises peaceful sleep 10 minutes after you put them on. That’s because they more than just block the light: they have mechanisms inside that chunky, VR-headset-like frame that give them the power to use audio-visual stimulation. This triggers patterns in the brain present in the best natural sleep cycles to induce deep states of relaxation and beat insomnia. The Sana Sleep mask can even monitor fluctuations in your nervous system, so it can personalize the audio-visual stimulation for you.
Richard Hanbury, the company’s chief, worked on the technology as a solution to his chronic pain issues that make it hard to go to sleep. It was put to the test when Bertrand Piccard relied on the technology to make sure he had enough rest when he piloted the Solar Impulse on a round-the-world journey last year. He could only nap three hours a day divided in 20-minute blocks and needed the extra help to make the most of each. At the moment, Sana Health is testing the device on athletes in need of restful nights while traveling.
Sana Sleep isn’t just for pilots and athletes, though: it’s for everyone who’s having trouble going to bed. Now that the company has successfully closed a $ 1.3 million round of seed funding, it’ll start working towards mass production. Hanbury says you’ll be able to buy the mask by the second quarter of 2018 at the earliest, and it will set you back $ 400.
