SLEEP ENGINEERING

1. As we continue our battle with the coronavirus, mental health issues are growing at an alarming rate. With rise in reported cases of 'fever dreams' and PTSD due to anxiety and loss of dear ones, mental health issues are spreading at an unprecedented rate. It doesn't help that there's an acute shortage of mental health practitioners in many countries, especially in the developing and underdeveloped countries. 

2.As mental health problems are linked with poor sleep quality, tackling one may improve the symptoms of the other. We propose a device to induce lucid-dreams to improve the sleep-quality of people.

3.Depression is one of the leading mental health issues, and poor sleep quality aggravates the problem. The solution has the potential to impact many lives, and if we could successfully implement the solution, it would improve the life of many people who regularly suffer from nightmares and poor quality of sleep.

The problem that we're trying to solve is that of rapidly spreading mental health issues caused by (or resulting in) sleep disorders and frequent nightmares.

Distressing dreams about the novel coronavirus pandemic are relatively common under lockdown

As sleep disturbances and nightmares are known to predict depression and a range of other mental health problems, a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic may be that mental health is being impaired around the world.

The second-wave of COVID-19 has exacerbated the mental health crisis considerably. That's because this time, in addition to continuous news cycles on COVID-19, restrictions on movement, sedentary lifestyle, and breakdown of daily routine, we are dealing with the added trauma of losing loved ones, while watching our social media timelines fill up with pleas and cries for help.

Many are now battling survivor's guilt, helplessness and despair. Mental health experts also report a spike in consultations for grief, anxiety, PTSD, panic and depression.

Number of people reporting nightmares has also increased during the coronavirus, and they suffer from problems similar to that of ‘fever dreams’, where users report unpleasant and vivid dreams when their body temperature is elevated. 

We propose a solution using a combination of non-invasive BCIs, CBD/Galantamine, electronic dream-journal, reality-check reminders, mindfulness meditation, virtual-Reality, and visual/tactile/auditory/olfactory cues to induce lucid-dreams.

Data like non-invasive brain signals, genomic information, physiological markers and medical history can be collected to provide personalized and accurate diagnosis, risk-analysis and appropriate medications, early prediction on the basis of high-risk factors and lifestyle changes for those who cannot access doctors.

Using lucid-dream induction techniques, we could enable the users to control their dreams, improving their quality-of-sleep and reducing occurrences of nightmares, increasing their productivity the next day and reducing the fatigue that accompanies disturbed sleep cycles. 

We could build a headband that monitors and analyses the users’ brainwaves to determine the REM stage of sleep, playing audio-visual cues as soon as users hit this most complete stage of rest. Combined with the olfactory devices that can be made to release microdoses of CBD/galantamine and mild vibrations at the right time, it will maximize the chances of getting lucid in a dream.

We can use this combination of audio/visual/olfactory/tactile cues throughout the day to use them as triggers to induce lucid-dreams in the REM stage combined with constant reminders, the safe drugs and the dream-journal.

We aim to help the people suffering from sleep disorders and nightmares that affect their quality of sleep. If everyone can have better quality of sleep, they can be more productive during the next day, and for people with mental health problems, reduced symptoms and better recovery.

Currently, there is an acute shortage of mental health practitioners, especially in rural areas where people have no access to such services and mental health problems are still associated with a social stigma.

As poor sleep quality is directly linked to mental health problems, this solution seeks to improve sleep quality by inducing lucid dreams to improve the symptoms of mental health problems and nightmares using a combination of brain-computer interfaces and other supplements.

Due to the pandemic, all of us were forced to lock ourselves into our homes and all social interactions were abruptly cut off, which had a toll on our mental health, especially for young children for whom these interactions were a part of healthy growth. This sedentary lifestyle promoted unhealthy habits and, combined with grief of losing loved ones for many, gave rise to numerous mental health issues that continue to rise sharply as we ride the second wave of the virus. Many of these problems are linked to, and likely caused by, poor quality of sleep and disrupted sleep-cycles.

It's still a concept idea being explored for feasibility, practicality and potential by a few professionals willing to help.

We combine recent advances in existing technologies in new ways to maximize the chances of achieving the desired outcome i.e. inducing a lucid dream and improving the quality of sleep of the users.

10 high-school students and 3-5 professionals

I am looking for feedback from this community for my solution concept.

I would like to get feedback from the community members and members of the MIT media lab.

We are planning to use AI to improve the sleep-quality and mental health of users by providing personalized diagnosis and risk-assessment of the various factors associated with their mental health issues.