I have insomnia. This neurotech says it can cure me.

Published 2021-12-01
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Would you shock your brain to cure your insomnia? How about your depression or anxiety? What if you could do it in the comfort of your own home with a hand-held device? That’s what cranial electrotherapy stimulation, or CES, proposes to do - just clip on a couple of funny little earbud-like wires, turn on your machine, and boom, insomnia cured! But how does this technology work, and how does it stack up to other kinds of brain stimulation? Is it even real or is it just a placebo? In this video, I’ll explore the tech and science behind CES, ECT (sometimes called electroshock therapy), and even tDCS (aka transcranial direct current stimulation), and dig into the claims made by a new neurotech company.

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Sources:

Brunoni, André R., et al. “Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Acute Major Depressive Episodes: Meta-Analysis of Individual Patient Data.” British Journal of Psychiatry, doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.115.164715.

Feighner, John P., et al. “Electrosleep Therapy.” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, doi:10.1097/00005053-197308000-00004.

Kavirajan, Harish C, et al. “Alternating Current Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) for Depression.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, doi:10.1002/14651858.cd010521.pub2.

Rosa, Moacyr A, and Sarah H Lisanby. “Somatic Treatments for Mood Disorders.” Neuropsychopharmacology, doi:10.1038/npp.2011.225.

“What Is Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)?” What Is ECT?, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ect.

Zaghi, Soroush, et al. “Noninvasive Brain Stimulation with Low-Intensity Electrical Currents: Putative Mechanisms of Action for Direct and Alternating Current Stimulation.” The Neuroscientist, doi:10.1177/1073858409336227.

Zhou, Qi, et al. “The Effects of Repeated Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Sleep Quality and Depression Symptoms in Patients with Major Depression and Insomnia.” Sleep Medicine, doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2020.02.003.

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All Comments (21)
  • @JohnDotBomb
    Man, my CES device was life changing for my anxiety. I got one through the Veterans Administration
  • @sealawrence
    The battery is actually 3.7v and the power supply you need to charge it is 5v with at least 1100Mah, it’s not saying that the output is DC, it outputs square waves pulses (but it doesn’t tell whether they’re in DC or AC)
  • @mckarrie1
    What a horrible name for a company! Sorosis? Sounds like a liver disease!
  • I think the alternating current may be more to protect against electrical burn than provide the therapeutic effect. The same principle applies to all electrostimulation devices used on the body. They either use AC or pulsed DC to protect the skin. I was planing on making a similar device a while ago, so I had to do some research first.
  • @tarickw
    whoa there, CE means nothing. It is a promise by a company that it complies with EU regulations but it does not require validation by any authority! Maybe medical adjacent devices are different but CE is nothing more than a promise 99% of the time
  • The Return of good old Electroshock Therapy™ Interesting video as usual, those product always have cluttered with vague info...
  • @Stoney_Eagle
    When I can't sleep I turn to the old fashioned green flower. Works perfect.
  • @otakuribo
    The answer is yes and i haven't watched the video yet
  • @dispiedark8682
    This is a pretty in-depth review, you did your research and it was very interesting to hear I gone take your advice and have a chat with my doctor, and see if this is something that could help me.
  • @corridorg4
    I like how legit this review was. No hype or pressure, just facts and information to back it up. Probably saved me a lot of money and anxiety about a product that seems like snake oil.
  • I am using perf and finding my insomnia much improved, as well as taking magnesium and iodine. No more restless legs. Got to say, you have a really pleasant calming voice to listen too, and interesting upload, thanks.
  • @harryhondo1013
    The device you used uses a DC current for its power source (all batteries are DC), but the output is AC (pulse frequency). All CES units are powered by a battery. Btw, I've been using CES devices for years with mixed results. Sometimes they work great and other times not so much - and this is with the same device. The studies are mixed, because the results you get are mixed.
  • @ace.of.space.
    I'd never heard of CES before! As someone with depression who is experiencing some new insomnia and sleep disturbance (my psychiatrist has recommended I do a sleep study soon) I'm interested to find out if this might be a useful type of therapy for me! Though, I have had a seizure once, I wonder if that makes CES a bad idea.
  • Meditative music is also thought to promote the production of serotonin, a hormone that helps to regulate mood and promote a sense of well-being. By promoting a positive mood and reducing stress, meditative music can help to create a more conducive environment for sleep
  • @sodas32
    It might also just be metabolic, I was over exercising, under eating and not getting enough carbs which resulted in several nutritional deficiencies after 6 years etc (thought I was being healthy, felt great in the initial years) unknowingly I was putting my body in a catabolic state which will cause the body to stay awake and alert, as it is meant to. Think about what you are doing and what messages you are sending to your central nervous system via the way you eat exercise and live...you might be putting your body in survival mode and its simply doing what its meant to be doing. I cut back and changed the way I exercise opting for more anabolic promoting activities with ample recovery time, ate more frequent balanced meals and also allowed myself to take naps. It has taken a long time for my body to balance out and recover, I now don't even need to bother with or think about sleep hygiene, I get tired and sleep. I hope this helps someone in a similar predicament, the worst part is not knowing what is happening and how to recover.
  • @tarickw
    Their specifications are weird and incorrect/inconsistent. They list a lithium battery power source but also an "power supply" with Mah which is odd as external power does not have Mah it has Voltage and Ampere. They list input power in watts but this does not even match any other listed specs as 3.7*1 = 3.7wH and 5*1.1 = 5.5wH. (And this is with us dropping the meaning of M from Mega to mili AND accepting that they list in watt hour instead of normal watts). After looking at the diagram some more, my guess is that this is a specsheet for both devices and thus is muddled and unclear. As for your confusion about the DC batteries, batteries are always DC. The DC can then be converted into AC. They are saying they are turning their DC into "Squre wave" AC. (Although I'm guessing they are meaning to say Square wave) But this really seems like a snakeoil cashgrab
  • @ayamata8950
    I love your videos Alison! <3 Please make a video about the brainmaster fullcap with sLoreta! )
  • Some corrections:1- The Mini 3 does not have a European CE certificate. The CE certificate that they claim to have is issued by a Chinese entity and has nothing to do with a standard CE. CE approval is an extensive and expensive process... 2- The research that is referred to in the company's adverts was conducted by using other devices. 3- I don't konow what medical condition would prevent you from using this device but unless you have battery operated implanted device or were pregnant while reviewing this product , it would probably be safe to use it in order to give a fair review. Alternatively, you could have offered it to someone else (with insomnia) and record their progress for 2-3 weeks and get their opinion on camera. In conclusion, all brain stimulation techniques including CES, TDcS TMS, VNS and DBS offer benefits for people and usually the benefits outweigh the side effects and health hazards. But you can't make the same claim about ECT as it actually works by damaging the brain. The result of this procedure can be a state of confusion, euphoria, apathy or just emotional numbness and the "claim" is treatment of depression because the patient stops complaining (at least for a while). I've seen dozens of people that have gone through ECT procedures and have major and permanent memory loss. Another issue with ECT is that once you agree to the 1st procedure and you end up dazed and confused, the idea of "informed consent" also becomes meaningless. I understand that you can't actually go through ECT procedures in order to give a review but you should do more research before validating it as a safe and effective procedure.
  • @mystuff9999
    Fascinating stuff. Considering that we are still basically throwing anti-depressants against the wall until hopefully something sticks this doesn’t sound too bad to me. What I wondered though: How would you actually conduct a proper double-blinded study involving electrical current? As a test subject you wouldn’t be able to sell me on the idea of a „placebo current“, right? And putting someone under so they don’t feel anything would be a bit overkill… This question will probably keep me up tonight 😆