<p>Most of us have heard anecdotal evidence suggesting it&#8217;s getting harder and harder to get a good night’s sleep. But the actual statistics are almost alarming. According to one <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/sleep/why-americans-cant-sleep/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent survey</a>, over a quarter of U.S. adults (roughly 27 percent) say they have trouble falling or staying asleep most nights. Meanwhile, 68 percent say they have trouble sleeping at least once a week.</p>
<p>And for the record, no, it <a href="https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2016/sleep-apnea-insomnia.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hasn’t always been this way</a>. In 1942 only 11 percent of Americans slept six hours or less on a nightly basis. In 2013 the number was a whopping 40 percent. However, while these statistics paint a bleak picture, <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a new line of CBD sleep aids</a> may offer relief.</p>
<p>Just about every sleep study conducted over the past decade shows that the number-one cause of sleeplessness is stress or anxiety. Unfortunately, the systemic causes of stress and anxiety—such as our modern post-industrial economy and our cultural smartphone dependency—aren&#8217;t going away any time soon. So it should hardly come as a surprise that the use of natural anxiety and insomnia remedies, like CBD, are on the rise.</p>
<p>While there is not enough research to make definitive scientific claims, overwhelming anecdotal evidence suggests CBD sleep aids can be helpful in alleviating anxiety and sleeplessness, and with minimal side-effects compared to other options. Unfortunately, the rapid proliferation of CBD supplements over the last few years has made the CBD marketplace difficult for consumers to navigate. However, as we’ve pointed out in this space before, one brand with a solid reputation for producing high-quality CBD products is <a href="https://futurism.com/best-cbd-products-supplements" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment</a>.</p>
<h2><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity CBD Sleep Aids With Melatonin</a></h2>
<figure id="attachment_154524" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-large wp-image-154524" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/03/bruce-mars-583850-unsplash-1200x800.jpg" alt="Mellowment + Gravity cbd sleep aid." width="1200" height="800" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Unsplash &#8211; @brucemars</figcaption></figure>
<p>Now <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment has partnered with Gravity</a>, makers of the innovative Gravity weighted blankets, to create <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity</a>, a new line of CBD sleep aids that combines CBD with melatonin and chamomile to help you fall asleep faster and achieve a deeper, longer, fuller sleep.</p>
<p>What sets <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity</a> apart from the competition is its innovative nano-emulsification process. To put it in layman’s terms, this process basically shrinks all the active ingredients, making it easier for them to permeate cell walls, decreasing the time it takes for the supplement to take effect, and increasing its effectiveness by an estimated 400 percent. <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity</a> also features water-soluble phytocannabinoid-rich (PCR) hemp oil, which can be absorbed by the cells via osmosis, increasing the overall amount of CBD your body can absorb.</p>
<p>Right now these cutting-edge CBD sleep aids are available in two strengths, depending on your needs.</p>
<h2><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-am?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravity AM</a></h2>
<figure id="attachment_154411" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-am?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="wp-image-154411 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/03/Mellowment-Gravity-AM-Mellowment-CBD-Sleep-Supplement-with-Melatonin-and-Chamomile-1200x1000.png" alt="Mellowment-Gravity-AM-Mellowment-CBD-Sleep-Supplement-with-Melatonin-and-Chamomile" width="1200" height="1000" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Mellowment.com</figcaption></figure>
<p><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-am?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravity AM</a> contains a “low impact” 10mg dose of Mellowment’s water-soluble CBD, along with a 1mg dose of melatonin and a 1mg of chamomile. Engineered for those who only need a little help, <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-am?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravity AM</a> is taken in the morning, and is designed to sooth your nerves and promote calmness while minimizing the potential side effect of excess drowsiness.</p>
<h2><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-pm?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravity PM</a></h2>
<figure id="attachment_154412" style="width: 1200px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-pm?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img class="wp-image-154412 size-large" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2019/03/Mellowment-Gravity-PM-Mellowment-CBD-Sleep-Supplement-with-Melatonin-and-Chamomile-1200x1000.png" alt="Mellowment-Gravity-PM-Mellowment-CBD-Sleep-Supplement-with-Melatonin-and-Chamomile" width="1200" height="1000" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Mellowment.com</figcaption></figure>
<p>For those in need of a more powerful sleep supplement, there’s <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity/products/gravity-pm?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gravity PM</a>. It contains a “high impact” 25mg dose of Mellowment’s cutting-edge CBD along with 1mg of melatonin and 1mg of chamomile. It’s designed to provide maximum relief from the stress and anxiety that keep you awake at night, helping you fall into a deep, impactful sleep.</p>
<p>Both varieties of <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity</a> contain 0.0000% THC and come in easy-to-swallow softgel capsules. Best of all, they can be delivered right to your front door. So if you’re one of the 50-to-70 million American who suffer from chronic sleep and wakefulness disorders, you should consider giving <a href="https://mellowment.com/collections/gravity?rfsn=2372257.23d448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mellowment + Gravity</a> a try.</p>
<p><em>A non-editorial team at Futurism has partnered with Mellowment to create this article, and we may receive a percentage of sales from this post. This supplement has not been evaluated by the FDA, and is not intended to cure or treat any ailments. Do not take CBD products if you are allergic to any of the ingredients in the product you are consuming. Tell your doctor about all medicines you may be on before consuming CBD to avoid negative reactions. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins and herbal products. Other side effects of CBD include: dry mouth, cloudy thoughts, and wakefulness. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of any drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.</em></p>


These cutting edge CBD sleep aids use melatonin to fight nighttime stress

Brands We Love

Mellowment has partnered with Gravity to create a line of CBD sleep aids featuring melatonin and chamomile to help you get the most restful sleep possible.

These Cutting Edge CBD Sleep Aids Use Melatonin to Fight Nighttime Stress

Mellowment + Gravity created two unique formulations designed specifically for sleep.

<h2>All-Nighter</h2>
<p>It turns out all of those people who tried to learn a new language or quit smoking by listening to recordings while they slept may have been on to something.</p>
<p>Under the right conditions, it turns out, the sleeping human brain is capable of learning new vocabulary. That&#8217;s <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31672-5">according to a study</a> by scientists from Switzerland&#8217;s University of Bern,  published in the journal <em>Current Biology</em> in January, which demonstrates that the human brain can absorb information during slumber.</p>
<h2>ToferHouse</h2>
<p>Sleeping participants were played recorded word pairings. One word, like &#8220;tofer,&#8221; was always made up, while the second, like &#8220;haus&#8221; was always real. If the pairing was presented during a specific point of a particular kind of brainwave, the participants would be able to answer questions about the words after they woke up.</p>
<p>For instance, the participants would be asked to determine whether a particular fake word would fit inside of a shoebox. &#8220;Tofer,&#8221; which was paired with the word &#8220;house,&#8221; cannot fit inside a shoebox, but the made-up word &#8220;aryl,&#8221; having been paired with &#8220;cork,&#8221; can. Brain scans taken during these tests showed similar neural activity as someone who&#8217;s learned a new vocabulary word.</p>
<h2>Study Up</h2>
<p>But if you&#8217;re planning a trip overseas, you should still probably stay awake while studying the language.</p>
<p>The<del></del> participants didn&#8217;t <a href="https://futurism.com/sleep-learning-used-clinically-treat-sexism-racism">retain anything as complex as a new language</a>, just some made up vocab. Even so, this research shrugs off old assumptions about the brain and shows just how dynamic a system we&#8217;re housing inside our skulls.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a title="Permanent Link to New Study Says We Can Prime Our Brains to Learn While We Sleep" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/01/31/sleep-learning-is-real-brain-vocabulary/" rel="bookmark">New Study Says We Can Prime Our Brains to Learn While We Sleep</a> [<em>Discover Magazine</em>]</p>
<p><strong><em>More on sleepy neuroscience: <a href="https://futurism.com/our-brains-can-make-decisions-while-were-sleeping">Our Brains Can Make Decisions While We&#8217;re Sleeping</a></em></strong></p>


The research brings new meaning to all-nighters.

It turns out you can learn things while you're asleep

Power Nap

New research suggests that the brain can learn while asleep after all, but only during a particular point in a particular kind of brain wave.

It Turns Out You Can Learn Things While You’re Asleep

But it only works under the right neural conditions.

<h2>ZZZ</h2>
<p>If your house caught fire in the middle of the night, you&#8217;d want to wake up to deal with that emergency, right?</p>
<p>In a new prescription sleeping pill study published this week in <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00327/full" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience</em></a>, half of the study participants slept through a fire alarm as loud as someone vacuuming next to their bed. Researchers from Kagoshima University, Japan estimated that millions of people taking prescription sleeping pills like Ambien and Halcion would sleep through a fire alarm. They propose that a new class of hypnotic drug might be used as an alternative which would function like a sleeping pill while still allowing the brain to wake up during an emergency.</p>
<h2>DORA The Hypnotic Drug</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/15308-sleeping-pills">most widely prescribed</a> type of sleeping pills, benzodiazepines, are really effective at getting the brain into &#8220;sleep mode&#8221;. Unfortunately, they act as a sort of blanket, suppressing areas of the brain that they don&#8217;t need to. That includes the area of the brain that decides which external information, such as noises in the night, to pay attention to.</p>
<p>Over the past decade scientists have been developing a new class of hypnotic drugs called dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs). DORAs more selectively target the brain&#8217;s sleep/wake pathways making them a safer alternative to benzodiazepines while also leaving the user with a reduced hangover-like affect these drugs can cause.</p>
<h2>Wake-up Call</h2>
<p>When tested in lab mice, those that had been given the benzodiazepine triazolam were slower to rouse than those given DORA-22 when presented with the sounds of a fox, a serious threat to a mouse. Better still, once the danger had passed the mice given DORA-22 fell back asleep as fast as the mice that had been given a sleeping pill, and significantly faster than mice that hadn&#8217;t been given anything at all.</p>
<p>More human testing is needed in order to show DORAs have potential applications as sleep aids. Since 2014, a DORA called surovexant has gained regulatory approval in Japan, the USA and Australia. High costs and limited clinical testing of surovexant have stymied its use but new types of DORAs currently in development could some day offer better results at a lower cost.</p>
<p><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/f-mop011119.php">Millions on prescription sleeping pills would sleep through a fire alarm</a> [EurekAlert]</p>
<p><em>More on Sleep: </em><a href="https://futurism.com/heres-how-sleeping-too-little-literally-transforms-your-brain">Here’s How Sleeping Too Little Literally Transforms Your Brain</a></p>


Half of study participants slept through a fire alarm.

A new class of drugs could make safer sleeping pills

Five More Minutes

A new prescription sleeping pill study suggests dual orexin receptor antagonists (DORAs) might make safer sleeping pills than benzodiazepines.

A New Class of Drugs Could Make Safer Sleeping Pills

Sleep when you want it, consciousness when the house is on fire. 

<p><span style="font-weight: 300;">If you know someone who is in desperate need of a mattress upgrade, a smart mattress from <a href="https://eightsleep.com?utm_source=ignite&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=futurism-holiday">Eight Sleep</a> will make the perfect gift. With a gift from Eight, they’ll get more than just a mattress. They’ll get a free personal sleep coach that will help them get the best possible night’s rest. For example, the company’s Jupiter+ model uses proprietary sensors embedded in the mattress cover to monitor sleep patterns and biosignals. What exactly does that mean? It means each morning they’ll receive a detailed report of the previous night’s activity, including a breakdown of total sleep time, REM sleep, and time spent tossing and turning. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 300;">The mattress also features dual zone temperature controls, a smart alarm, and a risk-free 100-day trial. And best of all, it also comes with smart home integration, which means it will work with all of the other cool smart home gifts they get during the holidays. And a mattress that automatically turns off lights when you fall asleep, or starts a coffee pot when you wake up, is a gift that keeps on giving the whole year. Invest in <a href="https://eightsleep.com/?utm_source=ignite&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=futurism-holiday">better sleep today</a>. </span></p>
<p>Exclusively for <a href="https://eightsleep.com/?utm_source=ignite&amp;utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_campaign=futurism-holiday">Cyber Monday</a>, Eight Sleep is now offering $200 off and a free Amazon Echo Dot with your purchase.</p>
<p><strong><em>Want more gift ideas? Check out the full <a href="https://futurism.com/gift-guide">2018 Futurism Gift Guide here!</a></em></strong></p>
<p><em>Futurism fans: To create this content, a non-editorial team worked with Eight Sleep, who sponsored this post. They help us keep the lights on. This post does not reflect the views or the endorsement of the Futurism.com editorial staff.</em></p>


It's a mattress that can track your sleeping habits and control items in your home.

Eight Sleep Mattress: your personal sleep coach

Eight Sleep Smart Mattresses track your sleeping habits and connect to other smart devices to control items in your home.

Eight Sleep Mattress: Your Personal Sleep Coach

Making bedtime smarter. 

<p><span style="font-weight: 300;">When you give the <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/products/gravity-blanket?utm_source=Futurism&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=Holiday%20Gift%20Guide">Gravity Blanket</a> as a gift, it’s like giving the recipient a great big hug every night before they fall asleep. That’s because the Gravity Blanket is a premium, weighted blanket engineered to be around 10-percent of your total body weight. This extra weight relaxes the nervous system by simulating the feeling of a hug, and promotes a more resultful, deeper sleep. The Gravity Blanket’s gridded stitching keeps internal micro beads evenly distributed, which prevents the weight from shifting and clumping in one place. The blanket also features a soft, removable, microfiber duvet cover which is also available in <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/products/faux-fur-duvet-cover?utm_source=Futurism&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=Holiday%20Gift%20Guide">Faux Fur</a>. And when the Gravity Blanket is paired with the <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/products/the-gravity-sleep-mask?utm_source=Futurism&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=Holiday%20Gift%20Guide">Gravity Weighted Sleep Mask</a> and/or the <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/products/gravity-calm-blanket?utm_source=Futurism&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=Holiday%20Gift%20Guide">Calm app</a>, you’ll get an even better night’s rest. Check out all the <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/products/gravity-blanket?utm_source=Futurism&amp;utm_medium=Website&amp;utm_campaign=Holiday%20Gift%20Guide">Gravity products here</a>. </span></p>
<p><strong><em>Want more gift ideas? Check out the full <a href="https://futurism.com/gift-guide">2018 Futurism Gift Guide here!</a></em></strong></p>
<p><em>Futurism fans: To create this content, a non-editorial team worked with Gravity, who sponsored this post. They help us keep the lights on. This post does not reflect the views or the endorsement of the Futurism.com editorial staff.</em></p>


If you like the idea of a blanket that simulates a hug, the Gravity Blanket is for you.

Gravity blanket: the key to better sleep and less stress

The Gravity Blanket is a weighted blanket engineered to simulate the feeling of being held, which relaxes the nervous system and promotes better sleep.

The Gravity Blanlet holds you tight while you fall asleep.

Gravity Blanket: The Key to Better Sleep and Less Stress

<p>Humans have made a staggering amount of scientific and technological progress over the past century. We&#8217;ve created technology that has transformed our society; scientific advances have helped us answer fundamental questions about who we are and the world that we inhabit. And, yet, mysteries persist.</p>
<p>Why are we compelled to sleep every night? Why are we still not able to &#8220;see&#8221; dark matter? And where the heck are all the aliens?</p>
<p>People have debated questions like these for decades <span class="s1">— sometimes centuries</span>. Fortunately, our unfaltering will to uncover the world&#8217;s mysteries has brought us closer to some answers than ever before. Here are six mysteries that still keep scientists up at night, and how close they are to solving them.</p>
<h2>Why Do We Need Sleep?</h2>
<p>Why do we need sleep? This may seem like a straightforward question, but the answer is far more complex than you might think. There have been countless attempts to find a definitive reason as to why humans need to sleep every night, but scientists are still unable to offer a single, definitive answer.</p>
<p>Findings in sleep science have shed some light on the intricacies of sleep stages and brain activity, but ultimately, they have merely offered pieces to an ever-growing, incomplete puzzle. It doesn&#8217;t help that we don&#8217;t have much to compare ourselves to <span class="s1">— </span>as sleeping patterns and brain activity in other animals often deviate significantly from those of humans, further mystifying our understanding of sleep.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/profile/jerome-siegel">Jerry Siegel</a>, a psychiatry professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute of Neuroscience and Human Behavior, has been studying the sleeping habits of animals to understand why humans need to enter a hibernation-like state every night.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our understanding and orientation [of sleep] is different than in any other animal because most of us would like to stay awake 24 hours a day. But in the natural world, animals that use a lot of energy are not going to survive,&#8221; Siegel tells Futurism. Nature values inactivity — for instance, winter hibernation allows certain animals to recover and store energy when it is not needed. &#8220;Across species, energy savings is the main evolutionary impulse for sleep,&#8221; Siegel explains. African elephants, for example, only sleep for <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0171903">two hours a day</a> in the wild, likely because they need the rest of that time to feed in order to give their large bodies enough energy to function.</p>
<p>The energy saving theory is one of several that scientists use to explain why we sleep. As scientists have created tools that can track brain activity during the act of sleep, they have come closer to finishing the puzzle and uncovering all of sleep&#8217;s mysteries.</p>
<p>For example, the brain has mechanisms in place allowing it <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14638388">to purge itself of unnecessary information</a> during sleep.<strong> </strong>“Sleep is the price we pay for learning,” Giulio Tononi, a psychiatry professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2096921-mystery-of-what-sleep-does-to-our-brains-may-finally-be-solved/">tells <em>New Scientist</em></a>. Tononi and his team conducted experiments on sleeping mice and found that, after sleep, synapses were significantly smaller than those before sleep.</p>
<p>Tononi&#8217;s team concluded that the brain needs to allow this activity to diminish in order to solidify information it gathered while it was awake. The brain is bombarded with information during the day, and it reinforces it with strong neural connections. To mix the new information in with all of the existing information, those connections need to weaken to &#8220;absorb&#8221; it. In other words, sleep allows the brain to make new information pliable enough to fit in with all of the old.</p>
<p>While this theory elegantly describes the brain&#8217;s process of making new information stick during sleep, Tononi and other neuroscientists <a href="http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-we-sleep-shy-hypothesis-claims-our-brain-must-pay-price-learning-266726">have yet to prove that sleep is actually required</a> for this to happen.</p>
<p>To fully understand sleep, sleep scientists need a better sense of the neurobiological processes of the brain during both wake and sleep cycles. For instance, how come some of us are able to sleep through extremely noisy environments, and some of us can&#8217;t? Once we are able to measure exactly how awake or asleep the human brain is, it will bring us even further to knowing all there is to know about sleep.</p>
<p>But one thing has remained clear as ever: Without sleep, we are far worse off. &#8220;We know that, if you are sleep-deprived, you have lapses in attention that are actually correlated with intrusions in sleep,&#8221; Siegel says. Not getting enough sleep has a direct affect on how much attention you can pay to the world around you. &#8220;Certainly when you are driving, losing alertness just for two seconds can be lethal.&#8221;</p>
<h2>What <i>Is </i>Dark Matter, And Why Can&#8217;t We See It?</h2>
<p>We don&#8217;t know what it looks like. We can&#8217;t see it. But it <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/news/planck20130321.html">makes up more than 26 percent of the matter</a> in the known universe. Since Dutch astronomer Jacobus Kapteyn hypothesized its existence in 1922, we have come to know it exists because of how it interacts with the matter we <em>can</em> observe, but dark matter is still mysteriously invisible to us.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QAa2O_8wBUQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Most of the matter that&#8217;s visible to us is made of neutrons, protons, and electrons. But dark matter does not adhere to these classifications. It&#8217;s made up of different types of particles we haven&#8217;t yet been able to categorize and that interact with light and matter in a completely different way. Dark matter does not absorb, reflect, or emit light. But its gravitational influence does bend light as it passes nearby <span class="s1">— that kind of observation is how scientists know that dark matter exists.</span></p>
<p>Researchers have been studying this phenomenon, trying to unravel its mysteries, almost since its inception. More recently, the Large Hadron Collider at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) has brought us closer to actually doing so <span class="s1">— researchers there are</span> working to identify the invisible material by accelerating tiny particles and then <a href="https://home.cern/about/physics/dark-matter">studying the energy and momentum</a> involved in their movements when they collide at high speeds.</p>
<p><a href="https://futurism.com/new-gravitational-wave-research-may-finally-reveal-mysterious-dark-matter/">Recent studies suggest</a> that gravitational wave detectors could allow us to &#8220;see&#8221; dark matter for the first time. But the truth of the matter (so to speak) is that we are still very much in the dark about one of the most abundant entities in our universe.</p>
<h2>How Was the Universe Created?</h2>
<p>We are inching closer to <a href="https://futurism.com/ancient-supermassive-black-hole-unveils-secrets-early-universe/">piecing together the earliest moments of the universe</a>, but its true origin is still a mystery. &#8220;Any theories or models of &#8216;creation&#8217; are incredibly speculative at this point,&#8221; Paul Sutter, an astrophysicist at Ohio State University and chief scientist at the <a href="https://cosi.org/">Center of Science and Industry</a>, tells Futurism.</p>
<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-history-of-the-universe-infographic/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2016/07/HomeThumb_V2-3.jpg" alt="The History Of The Universe [Infographic]" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/the-history-of-the-universe-infographic/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure>
<p>Perhaps the best-known theory about the beginning of the universe is the <a href="https://www.space.com/25126-big-bang-theory.html">Big Bang theory</a>, in which the universe expanded from an extremely hot and dense singularity around 13.8 billion years ago. But people misunderstand if they think that matter simply exploded into being from nothing, Sutter says. &#8220;The Big Bang happened everywhere in the universe simultaneously; it&#8217;s not an explosion in space but an explosion <i>of</i> space.&#8221; Yet, the exact process of what caused this (and of course, what was there beforehand) remains unknown.</p>
<p>&#8220;The earlier we go in the history of the universe, the less we understand,&#8221; Sutter says. While we have caught brief glimpses of the universe when it was only <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2010/11/how-early-universe-cleared-away-fog">300,000 years old</a>, scientists are still speculating about the extreme forces at play during the universe&#8217;s first moments.</p>
<p>Like all good mysteries, a question that seems simple yields more questions that must be solved before we can find the answer to the initial question. &#8220;We&#8217;re prevented from knowing the very earliest moments (like, less than 10^-40 seconds) because we don&#8217;t fully comprehend the quantum aspects of gravity,&#8221; Sutter says.</p>
<p>To this end, to fully understand the creation of our universe, we will need to have a comprehensive understanding of the laws of physics that govern matter and <a href="https://futurism.com/4-groundbreaking-study-could-uncover-secrets-of-the-big-bang/">antimatter</a>. This is a bit of a problem, as CERN recently confirmed that the Standard Model of particle physics <a href="https://futurism.com/4-groundbreaking-study-could-uncover-secrets-of-the-big-bang/">may have to be turned on its head</a>, as it doesn&#8217;t account for the majority of the matter the Big Bang produced.</p>
<p>Once we have fully understood the nature of antimatter and how it interacts with matter, we won&#8217;t have a final answer to the origin of the universe, but we will come much closer to understanding how it came to be.</p>
<h2>Where is Planet Nine?</h2>
<p>Beyond the Kuiper belt, a mysterious cluster of objects is orbiting the Sun. They orbit even more distant from the Sun than Neptune, but some of the objects&#8217; trajectories don&#8217;t seem to fit the expected pattern. Most of them circle around Neptune, kept in the planet&#8217;s orbit by its powerful gravity. But a handful of these objects seem to be pulled out of place by something with much greater mass.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.konstantinbatygin.com/">Konstantin Batygin</a>, assistant professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, believes that these peculiarities are at least partially caused by the existence of Planet Nine — a yet-to-be-discovered ninth planet in our solar system.</p>
<p>Think of the solar system as a giant disc. The orbits of these strangely behaving objects seem to bend the disc upwards at its edge. Planet Nine needs to be massive to have this kind of influence — a bigger mass than Earth, even. However, despite its apparent mass, we have not yet been able to prove its existence. In part, this is because we only just started looking for it; scientists <a href="http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/sheppard/pub/TrujilloSheppard2014.pdf">first started theorizing</a> about its existence in 2014.</p>
<p>However, that&#8217;s not the only reason that the planet remains undiscovered. &#8220;We haven&#8217;t found it yet because it is staggeringly dim,&#8221; Batygin says. &#8220;With the best telescopes around, we could just barely detect it, we think.&#8221; Infrared analysis is out of the question because the instruments are simply not sensitive enough. That forces astronomers to look for reflected light — an even more challenging task than infrared analysis. This is because any light that Planet Nine reflects has to travel from the Sun to the far reaches of the solar system, bounce off Planet Nine, and then arrive back to Earth. Reflected light diminishes exponentially as it crosses a distance; the properties of reflected light are stacked against us finding Planet Nine.</p>
<p>However, with advancements in technology, a more sensitive telescope may be able to register light reflected from it, once and for all confirming Planet Nine&#8217;s existence. Astronomers are also using computer simulations to estimate its orbit to get a better sense of where it will be and when. It&#8217;s possible that Planet Nine may be simply <a href="http://www.findplanetnine.com/p/blog-page.html">at a point in its orbit that makes it too distant</a> to be observed.</p>
<h2>Why Do These Sounds Make My Brain Tingle?</h2>
<p>You might have encountered them on YouTube: thousands of videos narrated in hushed voices and accompanied by soft sounds, like massaging a textured piece of fabric or the faint hum of a hair clipper. A specialized microphone gives you the sensation that you are there. For <a href="https://www.quora.com/Why-do-only-some-people-experience-ASMR">some people</a>, the sound creates the sensation of a scalp massage.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/K9yk1Rp1Lq0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>The result of this experience: a relaxing, tingling sensation in the brain in about 90 percent of the population. But why it happens, and why it doesn&#8217;t work for everyone, is still unknown.</p>
<p>Craig Richard, a professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University and founder of <a href="https://asmruniversity.com/about-dr-richard/">ASMR University</a>, has been studying this peculiar sensation since 2013. &#8220;We are at the very beginning of unraveling the science behind ASMR,&#8221; Richard tells Futurism. While <a href="https://asmruniversity.com/2016/06/30/interview-research-study-fmri-asmr/">past biological studies</a> have shown that functional connectivity (regions of the brain that light up on a fMRI) is different in brains that experience ASMR than in those that don&#8217;t, ASMR remains a mystery. Why is it that only a certain percentage of humans experiences it? Why does it even exist? &#8220;I don&#8217;t think there will ever be one explanation that satisfies everyone,&#8221; he says.</p>
<h2>Where Is Intelligent Alien Life?</h2>
<p>The universe is billions of years old. Considering the age and sheer vastness of our cosmos, it&#8217;s hard to comprehend why we haven&#8217;t found other signs of intelligent life. Basic probability indicates that we should have found extraterrestrials by now, so where are they?</p>
<p>Astronomers and physicists have put forth <a href="https://futurism.com/theories-intelligent-life-fermi-paradox/">many theories</a> in their attempts to explain. One theory suggests there is <a href="http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/greatfilter.html">a great cataclysmic event</a> that stops any civilization from ever making contact, while another proposes that aliens are <a href="https://www.space.com/38577-fermi-paradox-alien-life-buried-oceans.html">trapped beneath thick layers of ice and roc</a><a href="https://www.space.com/38577-fermi-paradox-alien-life-buried-oceans.html">k</a> on distant moons.</p>
<p>If extraterrestrial life does exist in our solar system, researchers suggest that it is likely microbial, as opposed to intelligent alien life. These alien organisms are thought to be on small, icy planets, such as the moons of Saturn or Jupiter. Scientists at NASA have <a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/oceanworlds">conducted studies</a> to investigate the composition and state<strong> </strong>of the large oceans on these moons because, they predict, the presence of abundant water might allow alien life to thrive. But so far, these are only educated guesses based on findings of NASA&#8217;s Galileo satellite and extensive scanning and observation. NASA is planning to get a closer look by traveling to Jupiter&#8217;s icy moon Europa <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-mission-named-europa-clipper">within the next decade</a>.</p>
<p>But even if we did find alien life, would we be able to recognize it? Looking for familiar carbon-based lifeforms that use water as life support might limit us in our quest to find alien life. Scientists must be able to fully distinguish alien messages from all the other noise in space — and even that is far from simple. What if their message is indistinguishable from other frequencies? What if they don&#8217;t want to be found?</p>
<p>In any case, the search is far from over. In fact, in many ways, <a href="https://futurism.com/how-nasas-new-telescope-will-advance-our-hunt-for-life-on-other-planets/">the search is only just beginning</a>.</p>


Ever thought about why you need to sleep?

It's 2018. Here are six scientific mysteries we still haven't solved.

Hard Science

Futurism's unsolved natural mysteries of 2018 includes dark matter and ASMR. Read the six science mysteries that still keep scientists up at night.

Science Mysteries - Unsolved Natural Mysteries 2018 | Futurism

Science has come a long way. But we still don't understand everything about our universe — or ourselves.	

It’s 2018. Here Are Six Scientific Mysteries We Still Haven’t Solved.

<h2>Good Night, Sleep Tight</h2>
<p>You&#8217;ve likely noticed your brain moving a bit slowly after a night of too little sleep. However, a substandard amount of shut-eye has greater consequences than feeling tired and irritable the following day. Research into how sleep affects the brain suggests that the amount of rest we get is of utmost importance.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, scientists at Western University in Ontario performed a study that compared the brain activity of participants when they had slept normally and had a reduced amount of rest. They were challenged with several different brain-teasing games, and given an MRI scan while they were completing the tasks.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MJK-dMlATmM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Much less activity was <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40036667" target="_blank">observed in the brain</a> when the participant was suffering from a lack of sleep. On an immediate level, we&#8217;re much less capable when we have had just a few hours at rest.</p>
<p>Researchers have increasingly found that lack of sleep <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/sleep-and-mental-health">may be a contributing factor</a> for a number of psychiatric conditions, not just one of their symptoms. Sleep problems contribute to the development of depression and reduce the efficacy of treatment, and may be involved in bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and ADHD. Given recent discoveries about the physiological effect of sleep deprivation on the brain, this might not be so surprising.</p>
<h2>Brain Strain</h2>
<p>Work published earlier this year found that not getting enough sleep can lead to <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2132258-the-brain-starts-to-eat-itself-after-chronic-sleep-deprivation/" target="_blank">astrocytes and microglial cells being overactive</a>. Normally, these cells would take care of damaged brain matter and other debris, which is a good thing–but they can cause damage if they do more clean-up than is necessary. Research from the Marche Polytechnic University in Italy found that the brains of sleep-deprived mice had some of their synapses &#8220;literally eaten by astrocytes because of sleep loss,” as lead researcher Michele Bellesi told <em>New Scientist.</em></p>
<p>In the long term, studies have shown that repeatedly under-sleeping can contribute to a host of cognitive conditions, including Alzheimer&#8217;s disease. Having the proper amount of good-quality sleep is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/10/poor-sleep-increases-risk-of-alzheimers-research-reveals" target="_blank">thought to be an integral part</a> of the process that removes proteins linked to the disorder from the brain.</p>
<p>This year&#8217;s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to a group of scientists for their <a href="https://futurism.com/nobel-prize-honors-u-s-scientists-for-helping-us-understand-our-biological-clock/" target="_blank">research into the circadian clock</a>. They discovered that the sleep cycle is encoded in our very genes, demonstrating just how far-reaching our need for sleep is.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re <a href="https://futurism.com/our-brains-may-be-100-times-more-powerful-than-we-thought/" target="_blank">learning more about the human brain</a> all the time. The field of neuroscience is constantly advancing, with new technology <a href="https://futurism.com/theres-a-new-window-into-the-human-brain/" target="_blank">offering up a better understanding than ever before</a> about what&#8217;s really going on in our minds. Given that <a href="https://www.sleepassociation.org/sleep/sleep-statistics/">an estimated 50-70 million Americans</a> have some form of sleep disorder, continued neurological research will be essential to helping more people have healthier, well-rested brains–and in the meanwhile, it&#8217;s fortunate that there are <a href="https://futurism.com/these-tech-innovations-use-your-senses-to-give-you-a-better-nights-sleep/" target="_blank">ample ways to use modern technology</a> to help you doze off and recuperate.</p>


Too little sleep can contribute to psychiatric conditions and Alzheimer's, and even degrade the structure of your brain.

Here's how sleeping too little literally transforms your brain

Woman using phone in bed

Health & Medicine

Research into how sleep affects the brain has found that too little may have long-term consequences, such as an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Here's How Sleeping Too Little Literally Transforms Your Brain

Insomnia is linked to crippling cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer's. 

Here’s How Sleeping Too Little Literally Transforms Your Brain

<p>For people who don’t get sleepy until 2 a.m., the buzz of an alarm clock can feel mighty oppressive.</p>
<p>Relief may be on the horizon, thanks to the discovery this spring of a <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.03.027">genetic mutation that causes night-owl behavior</a>.</p>
<p>Whether you’re a night owl or a morning lark rising effortlessly each day with the sun, your sleep habits are regulated by circadian rhythms. These internal clocks control just about every aspect of our health, from appetite and sleep to cell division, hormone production, and cardiovascular function.</p>
<p>Like many who study the intricacies of circadian biology, I’m optimistic that one day we’ll be able to design drugs that synchronize our cellular clocks. Bosses frowning on tardy arrivals could soon become a thing of the past.</p>
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<h2>Our internal clocks</h2>
<p>Nearly every cell in your body contains a molecular clock. Every 24 hours or so, dedicated clock proteins interact with one another in a slow dance. Over the course of a day, this slow dance results in the timely expression of genes. This controls when particular processes will occur in your body, such as the release of hormones like sleep-promoting melatonin.</p>
<p>Why are heart attacks and strokes two to three times more common in the early morning? Chalk that up to our internal clocks, which coordinate an increase in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0408243101">blood pressure in the morning</a> to help you wake up. Why should teens listen to their parents’ pleas to go to bed? Because human growth hormone is secreted only once a day, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mce.2011.09.003">linked to sleeping at night</a>.</p>
<q class="pullquote">Nearly every biological function is intimately linked to our internal clocks. </q>
<p>Nearly every biological function is intimately linked to our internal clocks. Our bodies are so finely tuned to these cycles that disruptions caused by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.056">artificial light</a> increase our risk of obesity, chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer.</p>
<p>The timing of meals can also impact your health: When you eat may be more important than what you eat. Several years ago, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2012.04.019">a study</a> looked at the feeding behavior of mice, which are nocturnal animals. When the mice ate a high-fat diet during their nighttime active phase, they stayed relatively trim. Those who nibbled on the same diet throughout the day and night became morbidly obese. Ongoing studies may soon show how this translates to human eating habits.</p>
<p>What’s more, some <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1408886111">1,000 FDA-approved drugs</a> target genes that are controlled by our internal clocks. That means the time of day that drugs are administered could matter. For example, some cholesterol-fighting statins are most efficient when taken in the evening so they can best hit their target, the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme.</p>
<h2>Clock care 101</h2>
<p>Our internal clocks are individually encoded, with most people falling in the middle range of a 24-hour cycle, but there are many outliers – including night owls – whose clocks are out of sync.</p>
<p>One in 75 people are predicted to have the “night owl mutation” in clock protein CRY1, delaying sleepiness until the wee hours. Not only does this make it harder for night owls to wake up in the morning, but their longer-than-a-day internal clocks puts them in a perpetual state of jet lag.</p>
<p>For night owls, the sleep cycle is largely beyond their control. But for the rest of us, there are steps we can take to rest easier and improve our health.</p>
<p>The clocks in individual cells are synchronized by the brain. The light that streams into the eye helps the brain’s “master clock” stay in harmony with the day/night cycle. That’s why, when you travel to another time zone, your internal clock no longer matches up with the solar cycle. It takes about a week to sync up to a new local time.</p>
<p>Bright artificial light at night tells the master clock that it’s still daytime, leading cellular clocks to race to keep up. That’s why seeing too much bright light at night can give you jet lag without going anywhere. One recent study found that simply <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418490112">viewing e-readers at night</a> for a few hours can cause worse sleep and less alertness the next day.</p>
<p>You can minimize disruptions caused by artificial light by practicing good “light hygiene.” Expose yourself to plenty of bright light during the day and minimize your exposure to artificial light after dusk. These steps will help your internal circadian clock stays in sync with the light/dark cycle, promoting good sleep patterns and overall health.</p>
<h2>What makes you tick?</h2>
<p>As we learn more about how circadian rhythms work, we’ll be better able to design therapeutic treatments that harness life’s natural rhythms.</p>
<p>In my lab, we study the complex molecular mechanisms that govern circadian rhythms. By looking at <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1615310114">how CRY1 interacts</a> with other clock proteins, we hope to understand how inherited mutations can wreak havoc on circadian rhythms. The night owl mutation in CRY1 appears to make it grab onto its partner proteins more tightly, like a bad dance partner who doesn’t know when to move on. When CRY1 doesn’t release its partner with the right timing, it delays the timing of everything controlled by the clock.</p>
<p>If we could understand these mechanisms better, it would set the stage for new drugs that could bring relief to a significant portion of the population. Perhaps we could shorten night owls’ internal clocks back to about 24 hours, helping them go to sleep at a “normal” time.</p>
<p>Given the complicated nature of biological timekeeping, there are likely many more genes that influence circadian timing. Imagine tailoring the timing of dosages to each patient’s circadian cycle, maximizing a medication’s impact while minimizing exposure to side effects. Picture patients checking their watch before popping a pill to treat high blood pressure or lower cholesterol. Ideally, one day our Fitbit-type devices will monitor our circadian rhythms, giving us precise real-time measures of our biological functions.</p>
<p>This may sound far-fetched, but it’s not that far off. Scientists are now searching for biomarkers that could be measured in blood to figure out internal clock timing.<br />
</i><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84022/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p>


Science could allow us to literally reset our bodies' clocks

Synergies of the Mind

Scientists are searching for biomarkers that could be measured in blood to help us figure out our body's clock and enter a new era in sleep.

Science Could Allow Us to Literally Reset Our Bodies’ Clocks

This could solve all your sleep problems. 

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<h2>The Science of Sleep</h2>
<p>Getting a good night&#8217;s sleep is key to productivity during the day. Even without science backing up this assertion, we know that if we&#8217;re tired, we&#8217;re not going to be able to perform like we can when we&#8217;re rested. According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/features/dssleep/index.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), &#8220;Persons experiencing sleep insufficiency are also more likely to suffer from chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, depression, and obesity, as well as from cancer, increased mortality, and reduced quality of life&#8230;&#8221; So we have a lot more riding on a good night&#8217;s sleep than lingering grogginess and unproductive temperaments.</p>
<p>Luckily for us, there have never been more aids to help us get the best night&#8217;s sleep imaginable. And we&#8217;re not talking about loading up on Nyquil. For each physical sense or mental ghost that keeps you up, there&#8217;s some kind of tech or supporting science that can assuage.</p>
<figure id="attachment_96459" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96459" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/white-2565766_640.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="485" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image source: StockSnap/Pixabay</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Good Taste</h2>
<p>While there may not be a specific tech innovation (outside of ancient herbal tea) that can help you get a better night&#8217;s sleep, understanding the science of how food affects your sleep cycle will help you make an informed, and consequently healthier, decision. Professor Richard Wiseman, head of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom has published his research in some of the world&#8217;s most prestigious scientific journals. In his book <em><a href="https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/night-school/">Night School</a>, </em>Wiseman explores the science of sleep and has a surprising suggestion when it comes to eating before bed: &#8220;Research shows that you can easily increase your chances of getting a good night&#8217;s sleep by eating a small portion (under 200 calories) of food that is rich in carbohydrates.&#8221; According to researchers from <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22844792">Kanazawa University</a> in Japan, the three hormones involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis and sleep/wakefulness can be controlled by ensuring your body will not feel hungry during the night, leading to better sleep.</p>
<figure id="attachment_96460" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96460" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/5406555453_8507892c7e_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: Brendan C/Flickr</figcaption></figure>
<h2>See Yourself to Sleep</h2>
<p>Our bodies&#8217; reaction to light is an important part of how our natural sleep patterns (circadian rhythm) regulate. This is why jet lag messes with our sleep schedules. Philips has developed a light that can both help you get to sleep, as well as wake up using light therapy. This device, the &#8220;Wake-up Light,&#8221; is designed to simulate both sunrise and sunset to make your going to sleep and waking up more aligned with how natural light operates, thus working with our natural rhythms.</p>
<p>The technology is backed by scientific research and was published in the journal <em><i><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20653451">Chronobiology International</a>. </i></em><a href="https://www.usa.philips.com/c-m-pe/light-therapy/more-about-light?int_origin=2_CP_light-lightther_slot1_us_en_lighttherapy_homepage_know-more-about-light">According to Philips</a>, &#8220;The main results from both groups confirm that waking up with gradually increasing light prior to the alarm time is of overall better quality than without light, the energy level of the users at wake-up is improved, participants reported easier rising, better mood, productivity, and quality of social interactions.&#8221;</p>
<figure id="attachment_96461" style="width: 379px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96461" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/HF3531_60-RTP-global-001.jpg" alt="" width="379" height="500" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image source: Philips</figcaption></figure>
<h2>A Sound Sleep</h2>
<p>It is common for people to be unable to sleep without some kind of backup noise. However, depending on the means used to create that backup noise, there could be other factors that hinder your sleep. For example, if you use a television for ambient noise, the light emitted could disrupt your natural sleep pattern. Also, the noise from a television may be too varied and unpredictable, depending on what is being displayed. Scientists have been studying the effect noise has on sleep and have discovered that the addition of white noise can help to lessen the impact of  &#8220;peak noise&#8221; (e.g. events like doors slamming). According to the <a href="https://sleepfoundation.org/bedroom/hear.php">National Sleep Foundation</a> and research by <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945704002242">Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School</a>, &#8220;If you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, creating a constant ambient sound could help mask activity from inside and outside the house.&#8221;</p>
<p>We used to have to rely on bulky ambient or white noise machines to achieve this goal but now you can get the same results with a simple, free app on your smart phone. There are many apps to chose from but <em><a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/five-free-iphone-apps-that-can-improve-your-life/">CNET</a> </em>does list a white noise app <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tmsoft.whitenoise.lite&amp;hl=en">developed by TMSoft</a> as one of the five apps that <a href="https://www.cnet.com/news/five-free-iphone-apps-that-can-improve-your-life/">can improve your life</a>.</p>
<figure id="attachment_96472" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96472" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/5180010517_9cd2236274_z.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: Wonderlane/Flickr</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Smart Scents</h2>
<p>Smell could very well be considered one of our most underestimated senses. <em><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201506/how-does-scent-drive-human-behavior">Psychology Today</a></em> says that &#8220;Smell is often the first warning of safety or danger, friend or foe. Smells have the power to drive your behavior on an instinctive and subconscious level.&#8221; They go on to explain how it is possible to harness this power to our advantage.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ssehs/research/research-centres/research-groups/clinical-sleep-research/">Clinical Sleep Research Unit</a> at Loughborough University in England have developed the <a href="http://www.sensorwake.com/oria">Sensorwake Oria</a>, a system dubbed as an &#8220;olfactory alarm clock.&#8221; It mixes the scents of powdered rose, peach, pear, talc, and musk to help put you to sleep, and scents of soap and sandalwood to ease you into a deep REM sleep. Pair this with <a href="http://www.joshrenoufdesign.com/new-gallery-5/av7fqhie9y5ptdbxr9s4i8rb65irqo">the Barisiuer</a>, a fancy alarm clock that allows you to wake up the enticing scent of freshly brewing coffee.</p>
<figure id="attachment_96594" style="width: 1300px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96594" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/Sensorwake-Oria-Olfactory-Sleep-Enhancer-2.jpg" alt="" width="1300" height="1000" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: Sensorwake</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Deep Sleep Bear Hug</h2>
<p>Touch can be highly comforting and essential to our emotional well-being. Weighted blankets are a widely used means to help those with disorders on the autism spectrum, also those with anxiety, mood, and borderline disorders can benefit from these haptic devices. They can also help others just sleep better, especially insomniacs. According to the <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=1518701.1518776"><em>Journal for Sleep Medicine &amp; Disorders</em></a>,  &#8220;A weighted blanket may aid in reducing insomnia through altered tactile inputs, thus may provide an innovative, non-pharmacological approach and complementary tool to improve sleep quality.&#8221;</p>
<p>This brings us <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/?utm_campaign=listarticle">to the Gravity Blanket</a>, described as &#8220;a premium-grade, therapeutic weighted blanket that harnesses the power of deep touch stimulation to gently distribute deep pressure across your body.&#8221; Gravity Blanket was able to <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1620645203/gravity-the-weighted-blanket-for-sleep-stress-and/description">raise $4,729,263 on Kickstarter</a>. It comes in an assortment of weights to best match your body type with the most helpful fit, which is about ten percent of your body weight. The best way to describe the feeling of using a Gravity Blanket is that of a skilled bear hugger or as one reviewer put it, &#8220;it&#8217;s like a really warm, fluffy suit of armor.&#8221; So whether you love spooning but hate the taste of your partner&#8217;s hair or if you prefer sleeping in a bubble, the Gravity Blanket can help provide you with the most comfortable and restful night&#8217;s sleep imaginable.</p>
<p>You can <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/?utm_campaign=listarticle">select one here</a>.</p>
<figure id="attachment_96810" style="width: 1552px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="size-full wp-image-96810" src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2017/08/9068f033d465253d98dd0ce6e64928fb_original.jpg" alt="" width="1552" height="873" /><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Image credit: Gravity Blanket</figcaption></figure>
<p>There are a myriad of ways to harness our senses to sleep easier and better. Try mixing and matching these approaches to find the best possible combination. Waking up more well rested does wonders for your health and productivity. It has been estimated that we spend a third of our lives sleeping, so let&#8217;s make sure we&#8217;re getting the most we can out of that time.</p>

It turns out augmenting the environment to suit your senses is better than chugging Nyquil.

Black woman sleeping in bed

These Tech Innovations Use Your Senses to Give You a Better Night’s Sleep

Changing your environment improves your sleep far better than Nyquil.

<h2>The Science of Sleep and Stress</h2>
<p>Today, we are healing and augmenting the human body in ways that science fiction writers used to dream about. However, we still have a long way to go.</p>
<p>In the United States alone, roughly 10%<em> </em>of the population is <a href="https://www.semel.ucla.edu/sleepresearch/disorders" target="_blank" rel="noopener">affected by a sleep disorder</a>, and a staggering 18% of the population <a href="https://www.nami.org/NAMI/media/NAMI-Media/Images/FactSheets/Anxiety-Disorders-FS.pdf">lives with an anxiety disorder</a>. More than <a href="https://add.org/adhd-facts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">11 million people</a> suffer from ADHD. And this is just the beginning of the problem.</p>
<q class="pullquote">Fortunately, there is a solution that you can use today while scientists continue to work on the cures of tomorrow.</q>
<p>It&#8217;s called proprioceptive input <i>(</i>also known as &#8220;deep touch pressure stimulation&#8221;). It works by activating pressure points across your body. This relaxes the nervous system by increasing serotonin and melatonin levels while decreasing cortisol levels. In this respect, <a href="http://www.grandin.com/inc/squeeze.html">research into proprioceptive input</a> shows that deep pressure stimulation produces a calming influence—one that decreases stress, improves sleep, and boosts mental health.</p>
<p>One of the most effective ways of <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/?utm_source=futurism&amp;utm_medium=newsletter">getting this proprioceptive input</a>? A weighted blanket.</p>
<p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" frameborder="0" height="476" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ffuturism%2Fvideos%2F762585857253949%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=476" width="476" data-mce-fragment="1"></iframe></p>
<h2>Harnessing the Power of Gravity</h2>
<p>For decades, weighted blankets have been used by individuals in the medical community in order to reduce stress and anxiety (and to assist individuals with ailments such as autism, MS, and PTSD). In fact, in an interview with <em>Futurism</em>, Amber Martin, an occupational therapist with a M.S. degree from Utica College, noted that deep pressure stimulation is the most effective method of assisting individuals in her therapy sessions.</p>
<p>She adds that deep pressure stimulation isn&#8217;t useful in just therapy sessions. As Martin notes, &#8220;proprioceptive input is good for pretty much everyone and anyone. It can be very calming and organizing.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ultimately, the weighted blankets use crafted poly pellets to target pressure points throughout your body that induce the release of serotonin, which assists with stress reduction and improves sleep and relaxation. The blankets can also be custom tailored to each individual, so you can select a blanket that is designed specifically for your body type.</p>
<p>You can learn more about the science behind proprioceptive input here and <a href="https://gravityblankets.com/?utm_source=futurism&amp;utm_medium=newsletter">order a weighted blanket here</a>.</p>
<div class="disclaimer"><em>Futurism only supports products that we use and love. The Gravity Blanket is one of those products.  A subsidiary of Futurism launched this product and Futurism collects a share of the sales from the items featured on this page.</em></div>


Clinical studies show that proprioceptive input (deep pressure stimulation) relaxes the nervous system by increasing serotonin and melatonin levels.

/Sleep

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