Client Full Stories

So far, so good! I received my device with no hassle and Michael was very swift with getting back to me on shipping ETA and even cancelling and re-ordering my device due to some paycheck issues.

A little health background: I’ve had trouble sleeping and waking multiple times to hit the bathroom for three years now. I’m only 26. Ever since then I have dealt with Lyme’s disease, nerve damage, mistaken benzodiazepine diagnosis and use for 6 months, and food sensitivities/allergies giving my body a nearly impossible job of getting a good night’s sleep. I have since corrected and cornered all of those through testing, recovery, diet and lifestyle optimization, blue-light-blocking glasses, a cool completely dark room, ear plugs, eye mask, grounding mat, meditation, and many other tips like those detailed by Ben Greenfield on his podcast. Basically, I felt like I had everything right when it comes to biohacking sleep hygiene as well as my own special inhibitions to deep, restful slumber. Despite that, I do have a decent exposure to electronics as we all do. Overlapping wifi signals, using my phone, iPad, and so on for hours each day was certainly effecting something in my body, and I now know it was doing something to disrupt the normal production of the electrical signals used to move the brain and body into the deepest stages of sleep.

On my first night using the product (which was last night), I had all sorts of emotions running through my mind about it. I was sort of freaking out about messing with my brain’s electrical waves. Conquering my fears, I slapped on the device per the video from Ben Greenfield on my brachial plexus. Knowing that some people have trouble finding the brachial plexus and also need time entraining the brain to the delta waves, along with having other issues preventing good quality sleep, I was still a little skeptical at this penultimate experimental moment. But, after hearing Ben Greenfield laud it’s benefits on deep sleep, sleep efficiency, and heart rate variability, as well as Michael and his wife’s testimonials of success with the product, I had enough confidence to push forward.

It was 10:45pm and I had just spent the last 3 hours either in the movie theater or on brightly-lit roads without my blue-light-blocking glasses, so I knew my sleep and melatonin wasn’t going to be optimal. So, I pressed the button on the device and lay down to empty my mind and drift to sleep. I don’t think it took me more than 15 minutes to be out. Then, I dreamt vividly and slept deeply. I actually woke a couple of times (probably due to the lack of melatonin) and had to wake up earlier than I wanted to, leaving about only 6 hours of actual sleep which is short for me. Upon waking, I felt quite well rested. I could definitely tell that I had slept deeper than I have in ages. Had I gotten proper darkness close to bed and limited my blue-light exposure, it probably would have been an amazing night. I can tell the difference already, which means I must have found the brachial plexus! Overall, I’m super excited and optimistic about the initial results.

I have to say that the feeling of the device working on my subconscious brain was a lot more subtle and completely comfortable. I had worried how it would actually “feel” having a foreign influence on my brain, but it really was quite unnoticeable and pleasant. It just felt like those days when you work your butt off and the process of laying down, emptying your mind, and slowly getting more and more sleepy until conking out happens more quickly and satisfyingly. Have no fear! It feels very natural.”

I will give an update later on, probably after a week and then a month just to gauge how things are going overall.

* 1 week later.

It’s been close to a week now and the benefits are starting to reveal themselves. I’m definitively sleeping deeper and lucid dreaming has begun. I feel more rested the next day and my focus and concentration are noticeably improving. Even when I wake up in the night to urinate (a long-time issue for me), I just plop the button and off to dreamland I go again.

The brachial plexus upon which we put the device is easy to find once you massage around with your finger some. I find that I just trace along the area under my collar bone towards the end of my pectoral muscle and place the device just before I hit that little pit that signals a gap between the chest and arm muscles.

I’ve also completely gotten over my fear of the device and the effect is so subtle and natural that you hardly notice what’s happening. I think I am in love! It is certainly worth the investment.

I first heard about the SR1 through a Ben Greenfield podcast earlier this year.  At the time I was suffering from adrenal fatigue and desperate for its primary cure – sleep.  The SR1 caught my attention because Ben gave it high reviews and I have an obsession for devices especially devices that are not conventional or mainstream and have a lot of potential.  After some debate and a few more nights of restless sleep (the norm for me) I decided to order an SR1.

Upon receiving my SR1 I was a little skeptical.  It’s basically a little box that you literally stick under your collar bone and it does its thing for 22 minutes and you sleep?  It sounded skeptical up front but holding the device in my hands brought my skepticism to a new level.  I remember thinking “$500 for another gadget, you’ve really stepped out there this time, don.”

Skepticism aside, at this point I was just ready for some solid sleep on a consistent basis.  I hadn’t slept a full night in months (maybe longer,) and I couldn’t remember when I had a week of good sleep.  This is probably a good place to point out a little history.

I’m a 41 year old manager that has devoted quite a bit of my spare time and money to my hobby of cycling, specifically XC racing.  I’ve been doing structured training for the last 3-4 years and it’s taken a toll on my body.  While I always thought I had a good hold on my training especially over-training, the adrenal fatigue found me and I was deep in it and still digging before I figured out the predicament I had gotten myself in to.  It takes a lot of work (which equates to stress) and a lot of mental pushing (more stress) to make a 220lb 40year old man a podium contender in cycling.  Adding to the training stress was the challenges of trying to fuel a 220lb body that burned an additional 1,200-3,500 kj of energy daily.  When you’re 220lbs and a competitive cat1 racer, you fight to get your weight down – weight loss and structured training don’t necessarily go together. Compound these stresses with a stressful day job in the oil and gas industry and you really have a storm brewing.

Prior to the SR1 my sleep consisted of approx 4 hours a night.  Some nights I got more than others.  Some nights I got less.  Despite going to bed early, I still averaged around 4 hours a night.  Most nights consisted of tossing and turning, taking 1-2 hours to go to sleep, waking up multiple times a night, and waking up tired.  This was just the norm for me.   Had I not learned about adrenal fatigue, I would have just thought this is the norm.  Many of my racing buddies live and sleep in a similar sense.

The first night with the SR1 was nothing special.  I still tossed and turned as I layed there in bed trying to go to sleep.  I didn’t even know if I got it in the right spot, on the brachia plexus.  A few nights of this and I was feeling pretty bummed about my SR1.  I stayed with it switching to the opposite sides to make sure I was finding the brachia plexus which I had no idea if I was getting it or not.  After a few failed nights sleep I sent Michael at DeltaSleep the following message:

Feburary 29, 2016

“Michael, I ordered my device a few weeks ago.  After about two weeks and 4-5 sleep sessions a week, I’m not finding any difference or benefit in using this device over not using the device.  Do you have any guidance?

I’ve tried moving it between both collar bones.  I’ve tried moving it around under the collar bone.  I’m just having no luck.  If I notice anything with this device it is that I can feel my pulse in my head shortly after activating the device.  It’s like a mindfulness/meditation-like feeling where I can feel my pulse beat each beat in my head.

I’m still taking 10-30min to fall asleep.  I still wake up multiple times a night.  I still wake up 30min to 2 hours before my alarm and can’t go back to sleep.

I was really hoping for some immediate sleep with this guy.  Any advice you can provide would be much appreciated.

I was ready to send the SR1 back and was hoping they would read in to my email and simply send me the refund instructions.  Within minutes I received a reply asking if we could have a phone discussion.

After a 30 minute discussion with Michael, I had new hope in the device.  He gave me a lot of suggestions, feedback, and ultimately his belief in the device made me want the device to work for me too.  I was loaded with new information, excitement, and was ready for another week or two of dialing this thing in.  Some of the main takeaways from this discussion included giving it time, especially if your sleeping cycle is really bad, it could take time to get it back to normal.  If you’re having difficulty finding the brachial plexus, you can use the third eye chakra location (basically center of your forehead.)   Lastly, Ben had just uploaded a new video that showed a better “how-to” to find the brachial plexus.  I was ready to make the SR1 work for me.

After another few days of working with the device, this was my email back to Michael.

March 3, 2016

Hey Michael, just a quick follow-up for you.   Monday night and Tuesday night I continued to search for the brachial-thingie near my collar bone per our discussion and the video from Ben Greenfield. It wasn’t much improvement but it seems when I woke up in the middle of the night I would press the button and go back to sleep quicker. This whole week, as I recall, it seems I’ve been able to initially fall asleep relatively quickly instead of laying around tossing and turning waiting for the sandman to visit.

Last night I put the device on my forehead much to the amusement of my wife.  I remember waking up twice but both times I pressed the button and I was out.  The last time was around 1am and I slept until my alarm woke me up this morning.  I rarely sleep until my alarm.  I feel like I got a good nights sleep last night.

I’m going to keep this thing on my forehead tonight and tomorrow and see how things go.

Thanks again for your help and I’ll keep you updated on the progress.  -don

Back to the skepticism comments above, when I put this device on my forehead, I couldn’t help but think I was being made a fool of.  I’m sticking this device to my forehead at bedtime.  I imagined Michael sitting at home laughing and thinking of new ways to make me look even more foolish just to see how far he could get me to go.  Though I felt stupid and couldn’t help but wonder if this thing was working or I was suffering the placebo effects, I stuck with it.  As it turns out, he wasn’t making a fool of me; it was simply my “monkey mind” racing.  With that said, I challenge you to stick the unit to your forehead and not feel foolish as you lie there trying to fall asleep…

Sticking with it, this was my response/update the following week:

March 7, 2016

For the last few nights I’ve been sleeping with the SR1 in the designated areas below the collar bone.   It seems like if I move it out further toward my deltoid I’ve found ‘the spot’.   I’ve had some pretty decent sleep the last few nights.  Perhaps my body is starting to get used to the unit and its magic?  I hope I’m not jinxing things by stating it now…   One thing I’m noticing for sure, when I wake up at night (use the bathroom, or the dogs jump on me, or whatever), I hit the button on the SR1 and before I can put much thought it in, I’m sleeping again.   I’m not sleeping a full 8 hours but I’m getting to sleep quicker (not counting sheep or breaths or tossing and turning) and I feel like the quality of the sleep is better.   Being able to get back to sleep quickly is a huge positive in itself.

We’ll see how the week goes.  -don

The following week there was a setback.

March 15, 2016

Hey Michael, a quick update…

The night I sent you the last update, last week, everything went backwards.  That night I didn’t sleep well, woke up a few times, had a hard time going back to sleep, etc.  Frustrated, the next night I slept with the SR1 on my forehead.  Things were a little better, kept waking up but would hit the button and quickly fall back to sleep.  They got better each night.  Slept very well Saturday night and Sunday night.  Monday I slept to the alarm and repeated that last night.  I’ve probably had some of the better sleep that I can remember these last 3 nights.  I’ve kept the SR1 on my forehead.

Perhaps placement is not a red herring and it is critical?  Maybe I’ve got the placebo effect?  I really don’t know.  I do know that if I press the button, within minutes I’m out sleeping.

 It appears my experience is all over the map.   Hopefully it is of some use to you?

 I’m going to keep it up for another week, with the unit on my forehead and see how things go.  I gotta be honest, if you hadn’t spent so much time talking to and trading emails with me I’d probably have called this thing a bust for me and moved on.  When I do sleep good I sleep good, I don’t recall sleeping like this in years.   The other thing is, I’m not sure it’s a placebo or what but after I hit the button, i’m typically gone within minutes (as in under 3 minutes) – at least I can’t remember much about laying and tossing and turning outside of the first minute or so.

I’m eager to give this a couple of weeks, as long as the sleep is like this, to see if I can’t get to that state that others are reporting.   It’s pretty goofy to have this thing on my head at night but I’m so in search of sleep I’ll try anything.  I’m not going to re-jinx myself by saying it’s starting to work as I did last time, I will say I’m sleeping really good as of recent.

One bad thing with the forehead, if you have oily skin you have to wash your face prior to going to bed.  On two occasions I did not and I woke up to the SR1 in the bed not on my forehead.  

Thanks for your time and some hope.  -don

March 22, 2016

Michael, no ground breaking sleep changes since the last update.  Two things to report that may have a big impact on my experience.  First the dang battery was low.  It would blink once, twice, and then I never checked it again.  I noticed last night after 2 cycles it would not blink again.  I replaced the battery and it kept going.  I slept really good last night.  No telling how long this has been like this. I use 2032 batteries in my bike power meters so I’m quite familiar with them (and often short life spans) and have lots of spares. 

I chuckle about the battery.  If I’ve had a battery issue for the last few weeks it’s going to be funny.   I would have never noticed it but my wife made a comment that the little unit hums.  I never heard or paid attention to it so last night before putting it on I was holding it listening to it.  It does indeed make a hum.  That’s when I noticed the light would go out after two cycles.  

The other thing I started wearing some Swanwick glasses 60-90min before bed.  This is a new thing, but after three nights of implementing them in to my nightly ritual.  I fall asleep fast.  Actually I’m yawning and showing signs of wanting to sleep before my head ever hits the pillow.  I’ve been able to start going to bed at 8:30 without much issue.  My evening is filled with LED light bulbs, 70″ LED flat screen, laptop monitors, and an iPhone.  Maybe I’m sensitive to the blue light?

Delta Sleep and Swannies might be the 1-2 punch needed to finally get that sleep I’ve been looking for?  

PS, the last week I’ve switched back to my collar bone area.  

Sincerely, your all-over-the-board customer, Don.  🙂

After this update sleep consistently got better.  This is my final update and where I stand today.

April 5, 2016

It’s been a few weeks since my last update.  Since the battery change things have been all good!  I’m sleeping well now and getting quality sleep, consistently.  If I do wake up, I just press the little turbo button and I’m out again.  We can close my case.

I’ve added a few little hacks along the way like magnesium spray, swannies, and a few other little things that seem to help.

The SR1 is a pretty cool yet very effective device and I’ll do my best to send more people your way.  While listening to your podcast with Ben Greenfield, I was snickering a little.  One of the things that sets you apart from other businesses is your customer service (your commitment to your product and people like me).  I have mixed feelings on Ben telling you to get an assistant.  I completely understand you are swamped, at the same time you’re swamped because you have a good product, you believe in your product and you have a huge commitment to it, this all comes out in your customer support. It’s hard to get that level of support from outside person that may not have your level of commitment.  I work in customer support (managing a corporate IT division) it’s hard to find people that share your passion and commitment.  I digress…  Anyhow, hopefully you get some help and they are equally as engaging as you have been.

Thank you for all your help and your commitment. -don

While I still have some ways to go to resolve my adrenal fatigue my sleeping issues are no longer issues.  I’m sleeping 6-7 hours a night and I’m sleeping well.  If I wake up, I hit my turbo button and I’m out again.  I don’t sleep in on the weekends, my body just wakes naturally but when I wake I feel well rested.  Despite taking a little longer than I had initially hoped to get results, the SR1 has lived up to my expectations and delivered quality sleep. ~ Don S.

I have never had trouble falling or staying asleep.  This was always an amazement to many of my friends and family.  I turn out the lights, put my head on the pillow and within minutes I go to sleep.

Recently however, that changed.  I had two problems that collided and made this impossible.  The first was a nose surgery that caused to me have to sleep sitting up for 1 week and I could not breath through my nose.  The second was a new relationship I was starting with an old boyfriend.  Although I was excited to be with him again, I knew there were problems in our previous relationship and that we would need to work these out before I could be sure it would work.

For three months, beginning in December, I was extremely anxious and could not fall asleep easily and when I finally fell asleep, I woke up a couple of hours later.  I tried everything, including sleeping pills, meditation, listening to hypnotic meditations on youtube and nothing seemed to help.  I was worried about getting addicted to sleeping pills.  I saw several alternative medicine practitioners and continued to have problems.  I had difficulty at work because of my sleeplessness.  It began to affect my mood as well.  I have always been a happy person and easy to work with.

I saw a podcast about this device that was supposed to reset the delta waves in the brain to allow the brain to get back to normal.  Almost immediately, I began falling asleep as I had before.  If I woke at night, I would press the button on the device and I would fall back asleep.  I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back to normal.  I don’t know what I would have done without this device.  ~Laura M.

I want to offer my experiences with the Delta Sleeper in hopes that I can help others successfully adjust to using the sleep device and experience greatly improved sleep. There are several different aspects that I believe will help, if you know about them ahead of time. I had a lot of trouble initially adapting, the roots of which started before the device had even arrived. I had experienced acute insomnia for a month, and was desperate to find a quick fix, miracle cure that would put me to sleep and end my troubles. My first mistake was believing too strongly that this would instantly knock me out and cure all of my problems. Upon first use (attempt), I placed the device in a position I believed was identical to what I had seen in the instructional video. I lay in bed waiting for it to put me to sleep. After 5 minutes, I didn’t understand why I wasn’t asleep. So I kept waiting. And waiting. Every minute, building up more anxiety and disappointment that it didn’t seem to be my miracle cure after all. I tried this for 3 nights, all of which were unsuccessful. I wanted to give up. I spoke with Michael about getting a refund. To my surprise, he said a lot of people have trouble in the beginning. He spent a lot of time on the phone with me, trying to get to the root of my issues and also offered many tips to try. At the end of our call I felt inspired, but not in the overly optimistic way I had previously. The first thing I tried was getting used to having the device in the bed with me. I put it different places in the bed, including next to my pillow, under the pillow and on top of the pillow. I tried this many times during the day when I was just resting in bed, though I also tried it at night. Once I was used to that, I tried putting it on my body again. After a week, I finally adjusted to having it on me, without feeling any particular way about it, physically or psychologically.

The second most important thing I learned from Michael was that exact placement was essential. Everyone’s body is a little different, and it took me a while to figure out the right place for me. I think knowing this ahead of time will prepare you to be patient with this aspect of it. Be patient! It may take several weeks to figure this out. I’ve found that there are 3 places I can put it that are effective; my 3rd eye, on the side of my temple, and below my collar bone near my arm. The second way doesn’t require me to use the sticky pad, so it is my most preferred placement spot.

The last thing that comes into play is my general psychological state. I’ve found that if I’m experiencing anxiety about anything in my life, I have a lot of trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, regardless of any outside intervention. I’ve made a lot of progress in this area, though it is always an ongoing evolution. I’ve found that creating a peaceful home environment several hours before bedtime really helps, including turning off my computer and that TV, and not checking any social media sites on my phone. The other thing that has helped a lot is meditation, both before bed and in the night when I can’t sleep. If I can get to a place where I’m so focused on the present moment that I’m at peace with whatever happens in the night, I fall asleep quickly.  Another thing that helped me not stress out about going to sleep was talking with other people who experience severely restricted sleep. I had been feeling very alone in this struggle, until one day I spoke with 3 other people who were in a similar place as I was, including a man who had only slept 2 hours per night for 15 years (of course I told him about this sleep device!).  One of things that was keeping me awake was my fear of dying, or at least permanently damaging my body from lack of sleep. Talking to him really helped quash my fears. That night I slept 7 hours!

The overall takeaway I’ve gleaned from this experience is that my frame of mind is the most important factor in whether or not I can get to sleep. Though this device does help me get into a sleepier state, if I have severe anxiety about anything, I will not sleep well. Where the Delta Sleeper device has helped me the most, is in its ability to assist me to get a much higher quality, deeper sleep once I fall asleep. I used to feel tired, groggy and irritable after 6 hours of sleep, but now if I only manage that much I feel more rested when I awake. I wish everyone could use this device, as a world full of happier, more rejuvenated people is a great vision for the future.

If you’re having trouble with the adjustment period, be patient. Give it the full 30 days to try it out and experiment, as I’m confident you’ll experience the great benefits if you persist with patience and positivity. ~ Christy D.

It all started in 2009 when I received the unwelcome news that I had non-invasive cancer confined to the ducts of the right breast. Two lumpectomies later it became obvious I would need a mastectomy and reconstruction. That was successfully done and the long recovery started. It was more painful than I anticipated and unfortunately, I developed an infection and the reconstruction had to be removed. After six months of healing we started the reconstruction process again and it was successful this time. However, after seven surgeries in a year’s time my body was in an unhealthy sleep mode. I would sleep for an hour, awaken and then sleep for 2 hours if I was lucky. This pattern continued all night and left me sluggish and not in the best shape mentally or physically. I was tired all the time and on really bad nights when I might sleep a half hour at a time the worry about whether I would get any good sleep that night would just add to the problem. The hot flashes that I was suffering through also did not contribute to a healthy sleep pattern either. As the cancer had been estrogen receptive I could not take any estrogen or estrogen like substances to help the situation.

Finally, in 2011 I talked to my doctor and the best solution seemed to be to take Temazepam to help smooth out the edges and help me sleep for longer periods of time. It worked most of the time. I found that even it did not help on a night when the brain was busy going in circles or I had too much caffeine during the afternoon.

 

Fast forward to 2016 and I began to make some changes for my health. My daughter discovered Ben Greenfield’s podcasts and shared the link with me. She thought I would definitely be interested in the one on the Delta Sleeper. I listened to the podcast and was impressed with the description of the product and what it could do. I read most of the information on the website and pondered for a couple of days. The 30 day money back guarantee impressed me as did the reports of the customer service. So I placed the order. I used it the first week and half while still taking the Temazepam and did not really notice much difference in my sleep. Then I stopped the Temazepam. Previously I had been able to take the Temazepam every other night and the effects lingered long enough to help some that second night. Not this time! Two months prior to this I had cut out wheat from my diet and had experienced great positive effects. Now that my body was not fighting the allergy to wheat it processed everything more efficiently and the effects of the Temazepam wore off suddenly in the middle of the first night with no Temazepam. I woke at 2:30 am and tried for almost 2 hours to get back to sleep. No luck. I was wide awake and even the sleeper did not help. I knew this rebound from stopping the Temazepam would happen but expected it the next night when I did not have to work the following morning. Since I appeared to be wide awake I went to my home office and worked for an hour and then went back to bed and was able to fall asleep with the help of the delta sleeper and slept fairly well until 7:30 am.

Since that night I have slept better with the help of the Delta sleeper than I did with the Temazepam but with no side effects. I did not realize that I felt sluggish later in the day from the medication until I was no longer taking it. If I awaken now in the night I can

usually just roll over and go back to sleep quickly. Usually I do not reactivate the sleeper but occasionally do need to. I am pleased with the Delta sleeper and intend to keep it. It is still a little weird that something that makes no noise really does work.

Making the choice to purchase the sleeper has improved my sleep, given me more energy and relieved the stress of worrying about getting the Temazepam refill on time. It has helped in so many ways not the least of which was removing the need for a medication.  ~Marti M.