How It Works

All of our body’s functions are controlled by our brain, even sleep. For millennia people have slept and awakened following the sun setting and rising. Scientists have identified how light affects our body by signaling the brain to help us fall asleep or wake up. To better understand how the brain affects our sleep scientists have monitored its electrical activity. They identified different stages of sleep ranging from Rapid Eye Movement (R.E.M.) that occurs when dreaming, to stages 1 through 4, referred to as light to deep sleep. The frequency of the brain’s electrical activity was highest when dreaming and lowest in the deep sleep of stage 4. They also observed people went through four to six cycles of these sleep stages during the night.

Monitoring the brain while awake showed scientists its activity followed rhythmic sounds or flashing lights. This following of external stimulus it is called brainwave entrainment, and can lead people into deep states of relaxation. Somnius works by causing brainwave entrainment using electromagnetic pulses instead of sounds or lights. Somnius silently emits these pulses from under your pillow following the patterns of frequencies scientists observed during healthy sleep cycles. Sleep monitoring has shown the brainwaves of people using Somnius follow these same healthy sleep cycles, even after years of poor sleep. More importantly, the people reported they fell asleep faster and slept better.

Somnius is powered by a standard 5Volt USB power adapter, similar to the one used by many cell phones. Plug the power adapter into a wall outlet near your bed. All power adapters should be at least 3 feet (1 meter) away from your head when sleeping to avoid unnecessary EMI. Somnius comes preconfigured with 4 sleep programs and automatically starts the previously run program. When Somnius is first powered on it runs a series of self-tests and when they pass the Spectrum Light Emitting Diode (SLED) will transition in colors from Red to White and then flash six times, indicating the version and serial number. The SLED will then flash the color of the selected sleep program. A different color is used to indicate each program so you can easily identify which one is running. If you are color blind you can configure Somnius to flash the program number instead. It is recommended all first time users start with Program 1, Deep Sleep, which flashes a Red color.

Where you place Somnius is a personal preference. Some users place it under their pillow and others under their mattress, and some even leave it face down on their night stand or headboard. Somnius should be placed with 18 inches (50 cm) of where you head normally rests when sleeping. Somnius produces a large donuts shaped field of entrainment Bio-Pulses that extends about 30 inches (80 cm) in all directions. Somnius is intended to be used by one person, but can be placed between two people at the head of the bed for both to benefit from its Bio-Pulses. If you like to read or watch television in bed you may find yourself feeling drowsy as Somnius is always running. It’s a good rule of thumb to keep all other electronics just beyond your reach when sleeping to avoid EMI.

Somnius produces Bio-Pulses, precise scalar wave electromagnetic pulses that occur in the same frequencies as brainwaves observed in sleep studies of healthy individuals. Somnius produces repeating sleep cycles that lead to brainwave entrainment, helping you to fall sleep quickly and stay asleep longer. You cannot hear, or feel the Bio-Pulses. However, if you place a headset over your ear or an earphone in your ear, and hold Somnius directly against the back of the headset or earphone over your ear while Somnius is running, you can hear the Bio-Pulses. This is so because they are magnetic pulses that will affect a headset or earphone only when in very near or direct contact. Somnius will not interfere with any electronic devices.

Preset Sleep Programs

Somnius comes preconfigured with 4 Preset Programs, and can be expanded to hold up to 8 presets. The included Sleep Presets are:
1. Deep Sleep, the factory default preset that starts when Somnius is used the first time. It is a 12 hour program with 8 sleep cycles using natural sleep brainwave frequencies. (Flashes a Red colored wave when selected and when running)
2. Solfeggio Sleep, a 12 hour program using the Solfeggio frequencies blended with brainwave sleep frequencies. (Flashes an Amber color wave when selected, and then changes colors and flash type to a two flashes every 15 seconds to indicate which sleep stages are being induced by the Bio-Pulses emitters. Purple and White indicate Dream sleep; Blue and Turquoise for Stage 1, lighter sleep; Green for Stage 2, light sleep; Yellow and Amber for Stage 3, deep sleep; and Red for Stage 4, deepest sleep)
3. Dream Sleep, a 12 hour sleep program with higher brainwave frequencies to encourage lighter sleep during R.E.M. periods to help in remembering dreams. (Flashes a Yellow color wave when selected, and then changes colors and flash type to a two flashes every 15 seconds to indicate which sleep stages are being induced by the Bio-Pulses emitters. Purple and White indicate Dream sleep; Blue and Turquoise for Stage 1, lighter sleep; Green for Stage 2, light sleep; Yellow and Amber for Stage 3, deep sleep; and Red for Stage 4, deepest sleep)
4. Deeper Sleep, a 12 hour program with even lower brainwave frequencies for the deepest sleep. (Flashes a Green color wave when selected, and then changes colors and flash type to a two flashes every 15 seconds to indicate which sleep stages are being induced by the Bio-Pulses emitters. Purple and White indicate Dream sleep; Blue and Turquoise for Stage 1, lighter sleep; Green for Stage 2, light sleep; Yellow and Amber for Stage 3, deep sleep; and Red for Stage 4, deepest sleep)

Choosing a Preset Program

Your Somnius comes preconfigured to start with Preset Sleep Program #1, Deep Sleep, the Red indicator, and it is recommended all new users start with this sleep program. Somnius should be placed 12 to 18 inches from your head for the first few nights. Somnius sleep presets are designed to produce a repeating 12 hour sleep cycle, which runs continuously so you do not need to stop and start or restart Somnius each night, unless your bed time changes by more than an hour each night. The first three sleep entrainment preset programs produce gradually shortening sleep cycles through the night to encourage natural waking after 7 ½ hours of sleep. Preset #4, Deeper Sleep, uses a fixed length deeper sleep cycle to induce the deepest sleep cycles.
If Deep Sleep does not adequately address your sleep needs, or if you wake up after a few hours of sleep every night, it is recommended to select Preset #4, Green, Deeper Sleep. This preset uses even lower frequencies to help attain brainwave entrainment in the deepest stages of sleep. You may find yourself a little groggy upon waking with Deeper Sleep preset #4, so plan to get a full night of sleep. One of the unique features of Deeper Sleep Preset #4 is that the color of the running indicator changes to indicate which stage of sleep Somnius is producing. The usual flashing indicator is referred to as color wave, a light that starts dim, brightens and then goes dim before going back out. This is the indication that will always be seen for the first few minutes of Preset #4. After this first step of the program passes each successive preset step, or frequency change, is indicated by a two flash ‘heart-beat’ indication, whose color indicates which stage of sleep is being emitted by the Somnius. Thus the next step will flash the heart-beat color of purple and white for dream stage, then blue for Stage 1 sleep, followed by turquoise for the upper part of Stage 2 and green for the lower part of Stage 2 sleep. Then you will see yellow for stage 3, followed by amber for the upper part of stage 4 and red for the lowest portion of Stage 4, the deepest level of sleep. The reason for this features is to allow the user to notice what stage sleep they may have awakened in during the night or upon getting up in the morning. If you are waking up in Stage 4 sleep, red or amber, you may feel groggy, and may need to consider changing the time you go to sleep.
Solfeggio Sleep, Preset #2 and Dream Sleep, Preset #3 also feature this color step indication.