PEMF, TCMS, and Zeez Sleep’s tech. What are they, and how are they different? Inventor in search of an acronym
As I write this, the Indiegogo campaign for the NeoRhythm neurostimulation headband is about to close, having raised £340,000. The Neorhtthmis intended to stimulate the brain to sleep, relax, meditate, manage pain, and concentrate. It does this by using transcranial magnetic stimulation (“TCMS” or “TMS”), also described as pulsed electromagnetic therapy (“PEMF”). During TCMS / PEMF treatment one or more electromagnetic coils are held against the scalp. The magnetic fields created induce electric currents in the cerebral cortex. They can be powerful, and applied for short bursts of time, as in the case of the Eneura Spring, used to treat migraine, or less intense, as in the case of the NeoRhythm, and intended to be used for half an hour or so.
The principle behind TCMS / PEMF
Our cells communicate with each other electrically. Ions in our cells are charged, positively or negatively: positive ions attract negative ions, and repel other positive ions, and negative ions attract positive ions and repel other negative ions. As they do this, they create movement, (electrical force) opening up channels in the cells and allowing oxygen and nutrients to enter the cell, and carbon dioxide and waste to be eliminated. And because ions are charged, they are influenced by external magnets – that is the principle behind FMRI scanners as well as TCMS / PEMF therapy, which aims to influence ion activity to eliminate pain, enhance relaxation, and induce sleep.
History of TCMS
TCMS devices have been used and sold for decades. Commercially available devices here amd Professor Vincent Walsh’s 1999 ”primer” on the use of TMS as a neuropsychological tool here. And there is NICE guidance on the use of TCMS. Devices marketed for their effects on sleep include the Earthpulse https://earthpulse.net Bellabee and Elf emmit, Thousands have been sold. What are we doing that is different, and why?
How is Zeez technology different from TCMS?
PEMF devices tend to create low frequencies within the body’s range of 1- 30Hz. So do we. The difference in our approach relates to the field strength of pulses. Whether PEMF devices are “high” or “low” intensity” all of them are far more intense than our Zeez Sleep Pebble. The Earthpulse, for example, creates an electromagnetic field of 1,100 Gauss, or 110,000 microteslas. The NeoRhythm (“Medium intensity”) creates a field of 25 Gauss, or 2,500 microteslas. The Zeez Sleep Pebble and Pad have a magnetic field strength of around 3 microteslas, and operate on a different principle – that of resonance.
PEMF devices have to produce a magnetic field which is intense enough to affect the charged electric particles of the body and “entrain” them. We seek to prompt resonance in neurons responsible for relaxation and deep sleep. To do so we aim to match the activity if targeted neurons, and produce signals with a voltage of around 1/10th of a digital analogue watch, and very weak magnetic field – far too weak to have a direct effect on the neurons. We want to encourage the brain to relax and sleep rather than inducing that activity. We prompt the brain for 20 minutes with alpha frequencies (relaxation) and at an appropriate times for deep sleep, with delta frequencies, through four sleep cycles. Generally (c 80% people), this works. People who respond to the Zeez Sleep Pebble often to do so within a few days. We don’t see the immediate responses induced by TCMS. It takes time for the brain to pick up and follow the Zeez’s tiny electrical pulses, but if we do respond, changes tend to be robust and withstand periods of non-use of our tech (see reviews and YouTube clips). I am reluctant to try the TCMS devices myself given its a high field strength when I know what we can achieve with a much lower power but that reluctance is not justified by existing evidence: PEMF / TCMS devices of this strength are accepted as safe.
Finally, what should we call our tech? I would like to distinguish it from PEMF devices, and I’d like a term that reflects the decades of study that lie behind our decision to use extremely low power pulses. Suggestions welcome.