A Wearable Ultrasound Patch That Supercharges REM Sleep
Sleep trackers have become commonplace, but they only tell you how well you slept after the fact. If researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have their way, future wearable sleep technology might actively improve your sleep while you wear it. Their new experimental device, called NEUSLeeP, is a soft bioelectronic patch that combines focused ultrasound with brain activity monitoring to increase REM sleep without medication or invasive surgery.
The patch adheres to the side of the head and serves two purposes simultaneously. It continuously records brain activity using integrated electrophysiological sensors while directing low-intensity focused ultrasound toward the brain's subthalamic nucleus, a structure involved in regulating sleep. That combination allows the system to monitor sleep stages in real time while delivering targeted neuromodulation, something that has traditionally required implanted electrodes.
It works better than it looks (📷: K. Tang et al.)
The researchers tested the system in...
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