What if sleep was about more than merely resting, recharging, and hitting that snooze button one too many times?

What if sleep could be a gateway to advancing health, creativity, and human potential? This was the question explored at the inaugural SXSW London, where Corundum Neuroscience’s Chief Product Strategist, Ruthi Aladjem, PhD, moderated the session Dreaming Big: How Sleep Tech Unlocks Human Potential.

The panel brought together four visionary leaders pushing the boundaries of sleep research and innovation: Dr. Caroline Lustenberger from ETH Zurich, Professor Yuval Nir from Tel Aviv University, IDUN Technologies CEO Simon Bachmann, and Professor Carl Hayden Smith from the University of East London. Together, they showcased emerging science and innovations that could turn sleep from a passive biological necessity into an active interface for health monitoring, disease prevention, and enhancement.

Unlocking Sleep’s Complexity

For decades, we’ve fundamentally misunderstood sleep. Far from the quiet downtime it appears to be, sleep represents what Dr. Caroline Lustenberger from ETH Zurich described as “one of the most dynamic and complex states the brain can enter.” 

Her team at ETH Zurich is pioneering non-invasive methods to monitor deep brain activity during sleep, particularly targeting regions like the locus coeruleus, a small but critical brainstem structure that controls arousal. Traditionally assumed to be dormant during sleep, recent discoveries have shown that it fluctuates throughout the night, playing a vital role in how we transition between sleep stages and possibly how we retain information or regulate stress.

One method her lab is investigating involves measuring pupil size as an indication of brainstem activity, which could help develop biomarkers for early detection of neurodegenerative disease. As Dr. Lustenberger shared during the session, tracking brain activity while we sleep “is a completely new window, [one] that could help us understand and treat disorders like insomnia or even detect early signs of Alzheimer’s.”

Translating Sleep Science to Daily Life

Professor Yuval Nir discussed how advanced monitoring could soon leave the lab and enter our bedrooms. His team at Tel Aviv University has developed a device that uses infrared imaging and AI analysis to measure fluctuations in pupil size through closed eyelids, potentially transforming how we track sleep at home.

“Imagine a camera on your nightstand that knows your sleep stage, or flags subtle signs of seizures, pain or stress,” he explained. “We’re working to make that reality.”

Prof. Nir also sees broader applications, from anesthesia monitoring in surgery to new tools for neurology and psychiatry. He envisions sleep as a daily health check-in, with AI and EEG analysis offering unprecedented insight into brain health.

Imagine a camera on your nightstand that knows your sleep stage, or flags subtle signs of seizures, pain or stress. We’re working to make that reality.

Adaptable Sleep

IDUN Technologies CEO Simon Bachmann introduced the concept of “programmable sleep.” His company is developing brain-sensing earbuds that don’t just measure neural activity, but could even help imrpove .

“It’s not just about telling you how you slept – it’s about actively helping you sleep better,” Bachmann explained. By delivering sound stimuli at the right time, these earbuds could guide the brain into deeper and more restorative rest. With miniaturization and edge computing advancing rapidly, such products may soon be within everyday reach.

The technology leverages our growing understanding of sleep architecture, working with the brain’s natural rhythms rather than against them. This represents a paradigm shift from environmental sleep optimization toward direct neural interface—sleep technology that works from the inside out.

Lucid Dreaming and Cognitive Liberty

Professor Carl Hayden Smith of the University of East London expanded the discussion into creativity and ethics. His work explores lucid dreaming and trans-human sleep technologies, raising questions about how far we should go in controlling or recording dreams.

“Dreams could become the next canvas for innovation… but if sleep can be hacked, recorded, and commercialized, what happens to our cognitive liberty?”

Dreams could become the next canvas for innovation… but if sleep can be hacked, recorded, and commercialized, what happens to our cognitive liberty?

Balancing Promise and Responsibility

The panelists were unanimous about sleep technology’s potential, but also cautious about its risks. Dr. Lustenberger warned against chasing the idea of super sleep—shorter but more efficient rest.

“Sleep is complex… if you start tweaking one part of the system that’s in healthy equilibrium, you might end up disrupting another,” she cautioned.

The human sleep cycle evolved over millions of years to serve multiple biological functions simultaneously. Memory consolidation, toxin clearance, hormonal regulation, and immune system maintenance all occur during different sleep phases. Attempts to optimize sleep by shortening or intensifying specific phases could have unintended consequences we don’t yet understand.

The panel agreed that at the intersection of healthcare, data privacy, and performance optimization, there’s a collective responsibility to ensure these emerging technologies remain human-centric and equitable.

A Future Of Possibility

We stand at the threshold of a sleep revolution that could be as transformative as the development of modern medicine or computing. The convergence of neuroscience, AI, and miniaturized sensors is creating possibilities that seemed impossible just a decade ago.

Yet with this potential comes responsibility. As we develop the power to program sleep, record dreams, and optimize rest, we must ensure these technologies serve human flourishing rather than merely human performance. The future of sleep technology will be determined not just by what we can build, but by how thoughtfully we choose to build it.

The researchers gathered at SXSW London have shown us a glimpse of that future. Now it’s up to all of us—scientists, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and consumers—to shape it wisely. Because in the end, how we sleep may determine not just how we live, but who we become as a species.

Professor Yuval Nir, a renowned sleep researcher at Tel Aviv University, is leading a groundbreaking study to optimize the early detection of dementia and improve outcomes for neurological conditions. Supported by a recent grant from Corundum Neuroscience, his project will investigate a machine learning-based approach to non-invasively detect abnormal brain activity in deep brain regions during sleep. 

EEG has been a cornerstone of sleep research for nearly a century, but recent advancements in technology and data analysis are enabling new possibilities. We sat down with Professor Nir to discuss how AI and machine learning are unlocking deeper insights from EEG data, the unique benefits of sleep-state EEG for understanding brain health, and the potential for these advancements to accelerate the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements of sleep have been utilized for nearly a century. What recent advancements have been made in this field that change what how it is being used in research and elsewhere? 

Prof. Nir: While EEG itself has indeed remained largely the same for nearly a century now, the most significant recent advance in my view is its powerful combination with AI and machine learning. There is much more information in EEG signals than what can be with visual inspection, and AI allows us to extract these signals with great sensitivity. In addition, in terms of hardware, “dry” electrodes (i.e. electrodes that measure the EEG without applying conductive gel) have improved, enabling better quality monitoring in people’ homes – an ambulatory setting – and not only in sleep laboratories. 

While traditional research has focused on patterns of brain waves and their functions, your work explores a different type of electrophysiological events. Could you elaborate on paroxysmal discharges, their origins, and what they might signify? Furthermore, how do you interpret their relevance to a broad spectrum of neurological conditions, psychiatric disorders and/or mental health conditions?

Prof. Nir: Sleep EEG includes a number of “signature” brain waves such as slow waves or sleep spindles, which can be seen in all individuals. In contrast, paroxysmal discharges are abnormal brain activity patterns related to excessive, hypersynchronous firing of neurons (i.e. groups of neurons firing together in an abnormally coordinated way). They are most prevalent in epilepsy patients, where they can be associated with seizures, but also occur regularly between seizures as “interictal” activity.  

These unique sharp waves are particularly noticeable during sleep and are observed not only in individuals with epilepsy, but also several other neurological disorders such as in neurodegeneration and dementia, in autism and ADHD, and after traumatic brain injury. They often originate from deep brain regions such as the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe, and are therefore difficult to detect with non-invasive EEG. Their relevance lies in their association with cognitive impairment, such as deficits in memory and language, and often suggest a poorer prognosis, for example more rapid cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease. 

Nearly any neuropsychiatric disorder is associated with abnormal sleep – be it psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety or neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.

In what ways does sleep-state EEG provide unique insights that cannot be obtained from wake-state EEG? Specifically, how might it elucidate prodromal (early) states of various neurological conditions?

Prof Nir: Sleep serves as a powerful window into how typical and healthy brain activity of an individual is at a given time, both with respect to the general healthy population and also relative to the individual’s usual brain activity. One reason sleep is a good way to gain insight is that when we sleep, our brain goes through stereotypical stages, each with its own signature waves and patterns, making it easier deviations from these patterns. Indeed, nearly any neuropsychiatric disorder is associated with abnormal sleep – be it psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety or neurological disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease.

In addition, beyond sleep being a unique scientific and medical opportunity for monitoring brain health, it also offers technical advantages for better EEG monitoring, as it provides uninterrupted opportunity to record EEG for long hours without eye movements, blinking, and movements that interfere with the clarity of the EEG signal when we are awake.

How do you envision the future integration of sleep technology into daily life? What potential applications and implications arise from the development and widespread availability of accurate, non-invasive sleep monitoring devices for consumer use?

Prof Nir: Ultimately, I imagine that sleep will be monitored routinely at peoples’ homes with touchless monitoring devices that track physiological and brain activities. Combined with AI, it would be possible to construct a model for the typical sleep profile of each individual, and a significant deviation from this pattern would prompt people to consult with their physician for more detailed medical examinations.