Personalized Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Improves Sleep - Early Findings

Sleep is fundamental to both physical and mental health, regulating major physiological systems (e.g., cardiovascular, immune, endocrine, metabolic) and supporting cognitive and emotional functioning here we report results of a non-invasive electrical brain stimulation approach using personalized transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) in improving sleep. A total of 31 participants were recruited for null-stimulation and personalized stimulation within subjects randomized crossed design. The study was conducted with a full PSG measurement in a controlled sleep lab setting. The personalized stimulation modulated neural activity in the theta/alpha bands using a pre-sleep 15 [1/2] minutes stimulation. The personalization involved using each individuals peak EEG frequencies in their theta and alpha bands. Personalized stimulation improved sleep efficiency by 13.4%, and reduced onset latency to 6.7 minutes (a reduction of 54%), and increased the sleep duration by 26.3 minutes. These results suggest that personalized stimulation improves sleep quality and motivates its potential for helping people suffering from insomnia.