Sleep headbands claim to improve your rest — Here’s the one that delivered.

Getting better sleep sounds simple on paper. Stick to a routine, limit screen time, and go to bed at the same hour each night.

In practice, sleep is largely driven by habit. The brain follows patterns shaped by years of stress, light exposure, and inconsistent schedules, and those patterns don’t reset just because you decide it’s time to rest.

Somnee approaches that problem from a neurological angle. It is a smart sleep headband, built on years of research by UC Berkeley neuroscientists, designed to influence the brain’s transition into sleep. We looked closely at how the device works, the science behind it, and what that means for real-world sleep quality to determine if it does in fact deliver more meaningful, restorative rest.

What to know about Somnee

• Somnee leverages years of clinical research, including that of Dr. Matt Walker, author of Why We Sleep
• During a 15 minute session, It uses neuroscience to improve sleep onset and maintenance
• Somnee employs EEG+ to tune your brainwaves to your optimal sleep pathways for faster, longer, more restorative rest
• Bone conductive headphones also play immersive meditative soundscapes
• If worn overnight, Somnee tracks sleep with lab-grade accuracy
• The headband pairs with the Somnee app for insights powered by Somnee SmartSleep AI

Tech & Efficacy

Somnee set out to make a personalized sleep aid that is more effective and safer than sleeping pills. To do this, Somnee combines proven neuroscience with the proprietary Somnee SmartSleep AI. Said differently, it builds a model of your brain and adapts over time, “teaching” your brain how to sleep better.

In fifteen minutes of use before bed, EEG+ reads your brainwaves and delivers gentle, personalized neurostimulation (tACS), a non-invasive method widely studied in neuroscience research.

Immersive, meditative soundscapes are delivered via bone conductive headphones that, we found, when combined with the gentle neurostim pulsations, made it difficult to stay awake through the fifteen-minute session.

Somnee is not a silver bullet, and we mean that in the best possible way. Over three phases– Mapping, Personalization and Adaptive– it is designed to learn your brain’s patterns and adapt. In theory, Somnee will eventually recognize when you’ve had a stressful day or when you’ve spent too much time on your phone before bed, and deliver its electroceutical accordingly.

The result is a device that has been clinically shown to provide sleep 2x faster and reduce wakeups by 33%, while being safer and 1.5x more effective than Ambien as well as 4x more effective than melatonin.

Design, Comfort & User Experience

Somnee is designed to feel closer to a soft sleep mask than a piece of tech. The headband is flexible and fabric-forward, with components distributed to support comfortable wear for both side and back sleepers.

The headband uses medical-grade hydrogel electrodes for pre-bed sessions and/or overnight wear for deeper sleep tracking if you want clinical-grade sleep tracking with 40x the data of traditional trackers. If wearing the headband overnight isn’t for you, you can use Dr. Matt Walker’s sleep journal (the same he uses in his lab) to track your sleep patterns over time.

A feature we liked was the DriftBack session, a shorter session that can be used to help fall back asleep after waking up in the middle of the night. Somnee’s website says this same functionality is built into the Nap session, though we didn’t get a chance to nap with the device.

Overall we found Somnee to be comfortable, pleasant, and effective. We would often fall asleep before the fifteen-minute session was finished and wake up feeling well-rested.

Price

Somnee costs $389 for the headband, with the options of a 6 or 12 month membership, which includes regular hydrogel electrode replacements, detailed sleep reports powered by Somnee SmartSleep AI, access to Dr. Matt Walker’s Sleep Journal, and additional resources.

Why we recommend Somnee

Somnee’s combination of personalized, non-invasive neurostimulation, clinical validation, and full-night sleep support makes it the headband we recommend for anyone serious about improving their rest.

Whether you struggle with falling asleep, wake up frequently during the night, or want more consistent, restorative sleep, Somnee offers a more complete solution than other headbands that only use audio interventions.

Try Somnee for 45 days to see what it’s like to fall asleep faster, wake up fewer times, and feel genuinely refreshed in the morning.