Meditation is a very ancient technique that came to us from yoga and is used to relax the body and mind.
Just a few minutes before bed, devoting to meditation, will help the body tune in to proper rest, and the brain – to remove many questions, to look at problems in a different way and completely get rid of the negativity in your life.
Meditation can bring you to a sense of harmony and peace. How to properly meditate with Muse S Sleep Headband before bed, read this article.
Following Muse 2, which has gained significant popularity among those who practice (or are just starting) meditation,
Table of Contents
Is the Muse S worth it?
- Personal meditation guide: Meet Muse 2, a smart headband that supports mindfulness and relaxation practices, helping you live a more relaxed, present life
- Real-time sound feedback: Advanced sensors detect when your focus shifts and provide gentle audio cues to help you stay centered during meditation.
- Easy to wear: Connect the headband to the Muse app via Bluetooth, select your session, and enjoy a calming meditation experience.
- Tune into your body: Track progress after each session to enhance your meditation practice and build relaxation skills over time.
- Safe, trusted, and user-approved: Muse is designed based on wellness research and trusted by users for mindful relaxation and enhanced meditation.
InteraXon launched the Muse S earlier this year, a soft headband with a small detachable center piece (pod) that ties the strap together with the app. It is available for iOS and Android.
Muse S Sleep Headband is mostly advertised and used for meditation, but we’re reviewing it here because Muse S has a fantastic new feature – Go-To-Sleep Journeys and Soundscapes.
You can use voice prompts in conjunction with biofeedback to relax and finally achieve deep, restorative sleep. Alternatively, you can use a soothing sound environment to help you relax.
How accurate is Muse sleep tracking?
Muse S is a wearable headband device with app (works on IOS and Android).
The headband is made of soft fabric, which is comfortable to sleep in. Two sensors are located just above the ears, and five are located on the forehead.
Finally, the removable device links all sensors together with an app that follows the guide.
- YOUR PERSONAL MEDITATION & SLEEP ASSISTANT: Improve your meditation practice and sleep hygiene with real-time feedback on your mind & body; Muse S monitors your Mind, Heart, Body & Breath just like Muse 2, and features Sleep Tracking & Journeys
- MINDFUL MORNINGS & RESTFUL NIGHTS: Start your day with unwavering focus and end it with blissful, restorative sleep; Extended 10-hour battery life allows you to go from daytime Meditation & Mindfulness to bedtime with Sleep Journeys & Overnight Tracking
- SLEEP JOURNEYS & SOUNDSCAPES: Turn off your busy mind and let the world melt away; Prepare for a restful sleep with the soothing voice guidance of a meditation teacher and responsive natural soundscapes to help you drift off
- SLEEP TRACKING: Find out how restful your sleep was with lab-grade insights from the comfort of home; Track your improvements and create habits for restorative sleep with Sleep Stage & Position Tracking, Sleep Efficiency Score and Deep Sleep Insights
- DIGITAL SLEEPING PILLS: Cue your busy mind it’s time for sleep with a responsive new kind of sleep experience that is designed to put you to sleep and help you fall back asleep if you’ve woken up during the night
How does the Muse S work?
Muse S collects readings from your body –EEG (brain waves), heart rate, body movements and respiration.
It uses the readings to see if you are making progress and calm down, whether you are entering a balanced state or not.
It can send you sound signals to focus your mind, or play certain sounds when you reach a calmer state. You can choose a teacher for voice-guided meditation.
If you feel anxious, the app picks up and plays the sounds of inclement weather.
As you become calmer, the rain will slow down or stop completely, and you will hear the sounds of good weather. If you become very calm, you will hear birds chirping.
The newest features are sleep transitions and sleep transition soundscapes that help users relax and fall asleep quickly with a calm mind, free of burdensome thoughts.
Can you sleep with Muse S?
Muse S is not designed to track your sleep – just to help users learn how to relax properly without being distracted from their thoughts.
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How do you use Muse S headband?
Go-to-Sleep Journeys offers voice prompts and biofeedback.
Hear the soothing voice of your beloved teacher as it guides you through landscapes such as the Enchanted Forest, The Underwater World, or more — there are many to choose from.
And to better understand the biofeedback part, imagine a mirror that reflects your inner state through sounds.
If, say, you suddenly remember that you need to go to work and face a difficult coworker, Muse will detect your brain activity and signal a calming signal with sounds.
As your heart begins to beat faster, you will hear an audible representation of it, so your attention will naturally shift to your heartbeat as you try to calm down.
If your breathing becomes faster, you will hear a sound corresponding to the rapid breathing and this will draw your attention to your breathing.
Finally, you will find that you are in control of all the factors that keep you awake – from mental – thoughts and memories to physical – breathing and heart rate.
Finally, you will be able to fall asleep with low heart rate and low blood pressure.
Muse S music to go to sleep
Soundscapes are simply sounds, or “sound environments,” as the company calls them, made up of your biofeedback.
Soundscapes exist in Travel only as a background for voice prompts. The Soundscapes option is for anyone who doesn’t like listening to someone’s voice, no matter how soothing it may be.
Here you can simply focus your attention and try to achieve perfect calmness without going through any imaginary scenes.
This sound environment is created in real time while you are in bed. Each night the melody will be different depending on how you feel on that day.
How effective is Muse S?
As long as you do not experience any technical difficulties (which will be discussed below), Muse S is quite effective for restful sleep.
It also has a good reputation for meditation itself (non-sleep related), but it seems like more people are happy with how well it helps them fall asleep.
The power of this device lies in the fact that it helps those who are struggling with stress and anxiety (in today’s world, most people are) and protect themselves from the very things that are probably their biggest enemies that prevent them from sleeping well.
Why don’t you fall asleep if you are tired lying in bed while you sleep, in a comfortable environment?
If the answer is “because of what’s going on in my head,” then mind training is what you really need. The Muse S does this in a gentle way with soundtracks that are soothing and comfortable for most people.
Can Muse S help you fall asleep?
Meditation practices are positively correlated with better and more restorative sleep.
This is because deep sleep (stages 3 and 4 non-REM) is quite sensitive, and we cannot achieve this if we are stressed during the day – it is as if our mind and body expected us to be in danger, so they keep us in an easier sleep stages.
Through relaxing evening treatments, you calm your nerves and help reduce the levels of stress chemicals in your body and increase the levels of relaxing, sleep-promoting treatments.
When you fall asleep in such a blissful state; your body can easily guide you through all the necessary stages of sleep and repair your mind, muscles, tissues and, well, you in general.
Muse S can be very useful in this sense, because many of us cannot get distracted from the unpleasant topics that are constantly spinning.
However, this product is not the only solution available. You can always practice mindfulness and relaxation on your own, without any aids.
Common problems with Muse S
These are common problems faced by users:
Sensors lose contact.
The problematic sensors are not on the forehead, but above the ears.
They tend to lose contact when placed incorrectly (even if they are slightly deflected), and then the meditator will receive a loud warning that the session has been interrupted (which can completely irritate you).
This problem has been reported most often by people with long hair. The company advises such people to first put on a bandage around their neck, then pull it on and stop as soon as they are pulled over their ears.
Thus, all hair must be pulled back. They also advise blotting the sensors with a little water to ensure contact with dry skin.
Slow support. We cannot blame them for this, because most companies in 2022 had rather slow customer support due to Covid.
It may take a few days, but they will respond eventually.
Some customers who bought a product and had questions or problems with setting it up, an app with bugs or something like that, found it really difficult to wait so long for a response and not be able to use their new, expensive product, which is understandable.
Headband width. This was the problem of those who described their heads as “very large”.
Why these people had the problem is a little unclear, because the strap is not only made from a single piece of elastic fabric – it also adjusts at the back so there should be enough headroom for everyone.
If anything, those who complained about the size said they would wake up with markings on their foreheads indicating they were wearing a headband.
The screen remains on. This is bad. You cannot lock the screen while the app is on, which also means your screen will be on while you try to sleep.
It also forces you to keep your phone next to your bed (which we don’t usually recommend). When the session ends, the app assumes you are asleep, so it just shuts down and your screen will rejoin shortly (if set to lock automatically).
The strap is not as strong. When consumers pay over $ 300 for a product, they expect it to last. The strap is soft and can be bent and washed by hand, but the sensors above the ears may soon show signs of tearing or cracking.
Does Muse S require a subscription?
Store the Muse S in a hard case and make sure the strap is not over tightened – you can adjust it to avoid stretching as this could damage the electronic components.
How do you clean a Muse S headband?
Don’t stack too much for no particular reason. Always be careful with the bracelet. Be light on any skin care product and make sure your skin is clean and dry before putting on a headband.
If the strap becomes dirty, remember to remove the capsule before washing the strap. Use a mild detergent and hand wash.
You can dry it by blotting it with a towel and letting it air dry. Make sure it is completely dry, so give it a full day. Do not put it in a washer or dryer as this will damage the components.