SoundMind product is fascinating. Is there a risk you become dependent on the device after longer term use and will have worse than pre-soundmind sleep when you have to go without it (e.g. it breaks or any other arbitrary reason)?
Nothing in the existing research suggests this to be the case.
It is important to understand, we don't help you to fall asleep. This isn't an insomnia device. We increase the efficiency of deep sleep specifically, and it is most effective on people who already have lower/less deep sleep.
I mean, what if the brain learns to expect the stimulus, and learns that it does not need to provide the stimulus on its own initiative anymore, or at least not to the same extent. Maybe it means the brain is spending that energy on other processes now that it is relieved of this task. Is that possible?
> Nothing in the existing research suggests this to be the case
I'm not sure I completely understand how you're phrasing that question.
However, I will say that there is now more than a decade of research into slow-wave enhancement, and multiple studies looking at safety, and efficacy.
If dependency is a concern, it's somewhat the opposite. We're stimulating a sleep function that naturally degrades as we age, and trying to get it to maintain it's power. So you naturally lose this ability.
Note: we can't create slow waves (yet) we can only increase what is already there.
Not affiliated, but I would bet on the opposite being the case, that this device (if it works) would teach you a pattern of sleep that persists after ceasing use.
In the same way brain kindling works for seizures, my guess is sleep is a learnable skill, and once the pathway is etched it sticks around.
The device is built on known science, and the brain may learn the response, but it is in response to a stimulus. Without the stimulus, the brain does not increase increase delta power on it's own.
There will be other discoveries in the future, who knows what we'll learn, but the current body of knowledge (and there is a decent amount of it) does not suggest a learned response to be the case.
Furthermore, the sleep we stimulate is deep sleep, which naturally degrades as we age, which perhaps suggests that it isn't a learned response, or else why would we see a reduction with age.
