We have always fantasized dreaming what we want to and how we want to, like in the movie Inception. The way Ellen Paige created a world of her own, a world which had several gravitational fields, we have always wanted to do that. I mean who wouldn’t love to control their dream to their liking?
Arenar, a start-up company from Amsterdam, looks set to turn this fantasy into reality with its invention – iBand+. The company claims iBand+ can help create lucid dreams, allowing them to ‘fulfill any fantasy and experience’ they want. The wearable can also help people sleep and maintain their sleep cycle.
Basically, the headband not only helps in inducing lucid dreams but also your sleeping cycles all while monitoring heart rate, body movement, and temperature through special sensors. Need to listen to some music before sleeping? The iBand+ smart app can then play music based on your habits.
The flickering LED lights on the headband will make you realize you’re dreaming, helping you control your dreams. Arenar has described iBand+ as ‘a truly smart wireless Bluetooth EEG headband’ that can sense brain waves with laboratory level accuracy.
Now let’s talk about sleeping and dreaming. Our sleep cycle consists of two main phases – Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep. REM sleep is the phase in which people have vivid dreams while NREM sleep is the phase in which people are easily awakened by something.
According to Daily Mail, ‘During REM sleep, the muscles in our arms and legs are temporarily paralysed, which is thought to be a neurological barrier to prevent us ‘acting out’ our dreams.’
The iBand+ starts its work in the REM phase by playing audio-visual signals through the headband’s LED and pillow speakers.
The makers at Arenar said, ‘These subtle external stimuli of light patterns via the LEDs on headband and sound from the pillow speakers appear as anomalies in your dream making you aware that you are dreaming without waking you up.’
The iBand+ will cost you £245. And no, iBand+ and Arenar are by no means associated with Apple!
