I sleep like a rock and I usually fall asleep within five minutes of laying down. Not everyone is so lucky though, including my nine year old son, Shawn. We had been to doctors, tried prescription medicine & herbal remedies, and even some really goofy sleep techniques found on the internet. We tried the Nightwave Sleep Assistant a few months ago, and this post is a review of how it worked for Shawn and also how it works for adults with sleep disorders.
I think that most people have had trouble sleeping at one time or another. You can be laying in bed and thoughts are spinning through your mind so quickly that it seems impossible to doze off. This had especially affected Shawn. He would wander down to the living room at midnight or later, completely unable to sleep. I don’t know if I can remember all the solutions we tried, but some of them include:
- A warm glass of milk
- Melatonin
- Chamomile, lavender teas
- Benadryl
- Lots of exercise
- 30 minute “quiet time before bed
- Sleep CDs, Music, Books on tape CDs
- An much more…
Some of the stranger things we tried were techniques we found on the internet such as: “toe tensing”, “quiet ears”, “sound imaging”, and more. Not much of this seemed to work, although we had some good results with the Benadryl. I don’t like giving my child (or anyone) pills for something that should come naturally. In fact, other than some herbal remedies that we have had good luck with, I try to avoid pills in general. I know that all of the above is typical frustration that many people have experienced with trying to fall asleep.
Enter the “Nightwave Sleep Assistant”… I received a call from the manufacturer of this device asking if we have interest in stocking the device and selling it through our health & wellness site. We already provide other sleep related products such as sun alarms, sound conditioners, body pillows, etc. They sent me a couple samples, and it seemed pretty obvious that I should test it on Shawn.
The device is small, about the size of a deck of playing cards. On the side there is a button and on the top there is a light that projects upward when set on a horizontal surface. There are four basic functions, all of which are activated by the button:
- Sleep Mode (seven or twenty five minutes)
- Mood light
- Heartbeat stress reducer
- Flashlight
The sleep mode is what we were most interested in. In this mode the light projects a soft blue light up to the ceiling that brightens and dims rhythmically. The light is not bright enough to be distracting for sleep and it can be set to go for either a seven or twenty-five minute cycle, although we have always used it on the 25 minute setting. The idea is that you practice deep abdominal breathing in sync with the rising and falling light. We had tried deep breathing techniques in the past, but Shawn did not seem to be able to stay focused on it long enough to fall asleep.
After practicing the breathing technique, we set the Nightwave to a 25 minute cycle, tucked him into bed, and hoped for the best. On the very first night, Shawn fell asleep before the end of the cycle and did not wake until morning. Pleased with the initial result, we continued using it with further success. Shawn has used the device for a few months now and the only times it did not work were when we had to remind him to breath in sync with the light. Currently, he is not using a Nightwave on a regular basis. I think that the device taught him how to focus on deep breathing and drift off to sleep. The times he has needed it lately have been due to a special cause, like a thunder storm.
My only minor complaint with the Nightwave is that everything functions from one button and what it does depends on how many times you hit the button. For example, for the 25 minute sleep mode, the button is hit four times. On a couple of occasions, I hit the button one time too many or too few. Not a big deal, and I would usually realize it before I got out of my son’s room.
We have tried the Nightwave on adults we know with sleep problems. Without exception, it has worked for everyone we know who has tried the device. I like the Nightwave so much that we now carry both the original Nightwave and the Nightwave Travel Sleep Assistants on our Better Health Innovations web site.
Bottom Line: If you have trouble falling asleep, try the Nightwave. We found it to be a great natural way to fall asleep without the side affects of medication. When used as the instructions indicate, the Nightwave almost always brings on restful and deep sleep.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Nightwave!!
