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Thanks for that feedback, and this is something we are currently struggling with. If you look on our website, we describe the process of increasing the synchro

Thanks for that feedback, and this is something we are currently struggling with. If you look on our website, we describe the process of increasing the synchronous firing of neurons which are the defining feature of deep sleep and the foundation of health. Unfortunately, we thought we'd have FDA regulatory approvals prior to launch, but we won't, which means we can't legally point to any specific biomarkers or physiological processes. It's a bit of a strange rule, because if the person was conscious while we provided the stimulation, we can say whatever we want, but because they are unconscious, we have to kinda dance around it. I'm still working on how we can clearly say what we do, while staying within the regulatory limitations. Is that the sort of thing you're looking for? Or maybe you are correct that it is my writing style that is the issue. I find for many people giving them a simple analogy they can latch on to makes it fairly simple. I don't think most people do understand that sleep hygiene isn't the activity that improves sleep. Most people think sleep is when they're brain and body are inactive, it's "rest", but in fact, it is anything but.

Nevermark 1y ago
I wouldn't keep downplaying sleep hygiene. It is real: 1. Lots of people are doing obvious things that clearly prevent them from getting good sleep: Alcohol, no exercise, or exercise to close to bedtime, bright screen time right before bed, drinking too much water and waking up, no regular bed time so body is always confused, not actively doing something with stress they take to bed with them, bedroom too warm, ... on and on. 2. Lots of people have benefited from not doing these unhelpful things. You might frame things as: ----- Poor sleep undermines almost everything we do, reducing motivation, lowering cognitive performance, and interfering with our social and professional lives. Poor sleep contributes significantly to both mental and physical health issues, and reduce lifespans. It is fair to say, that widespread sleep problems not only hold millions of individuals back, but society as a whole. Current wisdom is useful, as far as it goes. But it hasn't been enough. Sleep hygiene is great at removing barriers to good sleep, but our modern world bears little resemblance to the habitats and habits our bodies evolved to thrive in. All that complexity makes perfect hygiene impossible. And even with great hygiene, many people still have trouble getting quality sleep. But our team has had a profound insight, that we couldn't walk away from. There are other ways to help sleep than simply avoiding sleep disrupters or sleeping in late. Our team's unique vision is to pro-actively assist the body as it sleeps. To improve sleep quality, independent of sleep duration problems or other issues. This is a promising new, and complementary, approach to improving sleep. Our team has been engaged in fascinating work, developing a better understanding of the practicalities our brains deal with as they perform their vital sleep duties. But we are even more excited that those revelations are helping us design potential therapeutic interventions that can actively assist our brain to help us. And most of all, we are thrilled that those potential interventions in sleep quality, already in the works, may benefit individuals and society so profoundly. Are we being audacious or too earnest to say we have a dream? Well we do! We have a dream. ----- So, being complementary to sleep hygiene is a plus, not a minus. Two pronged attacks on problems are MUCH more powerful and promising, if they are complementary, than solutions that are just substitutions. Also, downplaying established wisdom is a flashing red sign pointing at cooks and scams. Einstein didn't downplay Newton's theory of gravity when he replaced it. Newton's theory was a great improvement over what existed before. Einstein wouldn't have had is own insights without it. All wisdom is a stepping stone to new wisdom, not an impediment. Knowing that sleep hygiene, despite being helpful, is widely recognized as not enough was surely and impetus for you own insights. It wasn't competition, it helped you, and it will still help people, as far as it goes. You may find the certain kinds of hygiene magnify the benefits of your work.
- pedalpete 1y ago
  Thanks for this insight. I have already been planning an upcoming blog post about how sleep hygiene fits, and the angle is that I ignored sleep hygiene for years, and thought it was nonsense, but now I understand it creates the opportunity for good sleep, but it isn't good sleep in itself. I don't think that is downplaying, I think it is clearly stating where and how it is beneficial, and where we pick up where sleep hygiene leaves off. Updated: Now I see, you're saying the original post made sleep hygiene the enemy, I didn't intend it that way. Measuring sleep time is an antiquated idea, but that isn't sleep hygiene, unless you're suggesting sleep hygiene is responsible for our 8 hour a day mentality. Which I'd say it is probably lumped in with.
  - Nevermark 1y ago
    It is lumped in, probably because most people who do get great sleep routinely sleep 7-9 hours. I don’t think making an issue of that helps either. In fact, if your approach works, and people with problems achieve great sleep, it will be interesting to see if shorter time sleepers are able to revert to longer times naturally, or shorter times. Some frustrated short sleepers may achieve the bliss of a longer night’s sleep. Some longer sleepers may naturally wake rested earlier! You could frame that as the jury is out on that one. Not that aiming for enough time is wrong. But that sleep assist may alter the simple recommended time approach. And your hopes are to benefit everyone, including those who for practical reasons can’t allocate the recommended time, with the time deficit being less of a problem, or in the best case scenario, no longer a problem at all. I think remaining positive but flexible about current wisdom helps. It is the result of a huge amount of effort and observation - no matter how imperfect the results. Otherwise you are in danger of both claiming too much, and making claims that really are completely unnecessary. It is also a bad look. People are always hearing “everything you have been told is wrong”, without evidence to back that up, only to hear the opposite a month or year later. It gives the impression of clickbait, a scam, or vaporware. Until there are studies from major sleep research labs demonstrating you really do have a strong impact on sleep times, you are in danger of promising something you can’t deliver. The simple message of higher quality of sleep for everyone is the only one you need. It is the only thing people want. Demand for that is insane. Stay on that simple message. The story is a new approach, understanding practical work the brain does, creating sleep assist. Simple gets more attention. Simple is remembered. Don’t publically fight phantoms in your mind, that are not in your customers’ minds. You already have a good story. A major new angle on the problem. Sticking with a simple message is especially important before revealing something people cannot yet buy. And any real impact on hygiene, validated by credible independent studies, would make fantastic follow up post-availability PR. You might ask yourself, why are you already “selling” something you can’t sell yet? It’s not always wrong to attempt to pre-emptively stoke demand. But your demand is already there and already enormous. It is easy to seriously undermine your reputation if your message gets ahead of reality in any way. Avoid any complication, and avoid frustrating people with unsupportable (today) claims. You are going to genuinely have 1000 interesting viewpoints on this. Your customers rarely need more than one or zero before you ship.

Nevermark 1y ago

I wouldn't keep downplaying sleep hygiene. It is real: 1. Lots of people are doing obvious things that clearly prevent them from getting good sleep: Alcohol, no exercise, or exercise to close to bedtime, bright screen time right before bed, drinking too much water and waking up, no regular bed time so body is always confused, not actively doing something with stress they take to bed with them, bedroom too warm, ... on and on. 2. Lots of people have benefited from not doing these unhelpful things. You might frame things as: ----- Poor sleep undermines almost everything we do, reducing motivation, lowering cognitive performance, and interfering with our social and professional lives. Poor sleep contributes significantly to both mental and physical health issues, and reduce lifespans. It is fair to say, that widespread sleep problems not only hold millions of individuals back, but society as a whole. Current wisdom is useful, as far as it goes. But it hasn't been enough. Sleep hygiene is great at removing barriers to good sleep, but our modern world bears little resemblance to the habitats and habits our bodies evolved to thrive in. All that complexity makes perfect hygiene impossible. And even with great hygiene, many people still have trouble getting quality sleep. But our team has had a profound insight, that we couldn't walk away from. There are other ways to help sleep than simply avoiding sleep disrupters or sleeping in late. Our team's unique vision is to pro-actively assist the body as it sleeps. To improve sleep quality, independent of sleep duration problems or other issues. This is a promising new, and complementary, approach to improving sleep. Our team has been engaged in fascinating work, developing a better understanding of the practicalities our brains deal with as they perform their vital sleep duties. But we are even more excited that those revelations are helping us design potential therapeutic interventions that can actively assist our brain to help us. And most of all, we are thrilled that those potential interventions in sleep quality, already in the works, may benefit individuals and society so profoundly. Are we being audacious or too earnest to say we have a dream? Well we do! We have a dream. ----- So, being complementary to sleep hygiene is a plus, not a minus. Two pronged attacks on problems are MUCH more powerful and promising, if they are complementary, than solutions that are just substitutions. Also, downplaying established wisdom is a flashing red sign pointing at cooks and scams. Einstein didn't downplay Newton's theory of gravity when he replaced it. Newton's theory was a great improvement over what existed before. Einstein wouldn't have had is own insights without it. All wisdom is a stepping stone to new wisdom, not an impediment. Knowing that sleep hygiene, despite being helpful, is widely recognized as not enough was surely and impetus for you own insights. It wasn't competition, it helped you, and it will still help people, as far as it goes. You may find the certain kinds of hygiene magnify the benefits of your work.

pedalpete 1y ago
Thanks for this insight. I have already been planning an upcoming blog post about how sleep hygiene fits, and the angle is that I ignored sleep hygiene for years, and thought it was nonsense, but now I understand it creates the opportunity for good sleep, but it isn't good sleep in itself. I don't think that is downplaying, I think it is clearly stating where and how it is beneficial, and where we pick up where sleep hygiene leaves off. Updated: Now I see, you're saying the original post made sleep hygiene the enemy, I didn't intend it that way. Measuring sleep time is an antiquated idea, but that isn't sleep hygiene, unless you're suggesting sleep hygiene is responsible for our 8 hour a day mentality. Which I'd say it is probably lumped in with.
- Nevermark 1y ago
  It is lumped in, probably because most people who do get great sleep routinely sleep 7-9 hours. I don’t think making an issue of that helps either. In fact, if your approach works, and people with problems achieve great sleep, it will be interesting to see if shorter time sleepers are able to revert to longer times naturally, or shorter times. Some frustrated short sleepers may achieve the bliss of a longer night’s sleep. Some longer sleepers may naturally wake rested earlier! You could frame that as the jury is out on that one. Not that aiming for enough time is wrong. But that sleep assist may alter the simple recommended time approach. And your hopes are to benefit everyone, including those who for practical reasons can’t allocate the recommended time, with the time deficit being less of a problem, or in the best case scenario, no longer a problem at all. I think remaining positive but flexible about current wisdom helps. It is the result of a huge amount of effort and observation - no matter how imperfect the results. Otherwise you are in danger of both claiming too much, and making claims that really are completely unnecessary. It is also a bad look. People are always hearing “everything you have been told is wrong”, without evidence to back that up, only to hear the opposite a month or year later. It gives the impression of clickbait, a scam, or vaporware. Until there are studies from major sleep research labs demonstrating you really do have a strong impact on sleep times, you are in danger of promising something you can’t deliver. The simple message of higher quality of sleep for everyone is the only one you need. It is the only thing people want. Demand for that is insane. Stay on that simple message. The story is a new approach, understanding practical work the brain does, creating sleep assist. Simple gets more attention. Simple is remembered. Don’t publically fight phantoms in your mind, that are not in your customers’ minds. You already have a good story. A major new angle on the problem. Sticking with a simple message is especially important before revealing something people cannot yet buy. And any real impact on hygiene, validated by credible independent studies, would make fantastic follow up post-availability PR. You might ask yourself, why are you already “selling” something you can’t sell yet? It’s not always wrong to attempt to pre-emptively stoke demand. But your demand is already there and already enormous. It is easy to seriously undermine your reputation if your message gets ahead of reality in any way. Avoid any complication, and avoid frustrating people with unsupportable (today) claims. You are going to genuinely have 1000 interesting viewpoints on this. Your customers rarely need more than one or zero before you ship.