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tDCS infant onesie promotes sleep and cleverness

tDCS makes babies sleep longer and be smarter; new intermittent electrode is non-gooey
  (+2, -1)
(+2, -1)
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Newborn babies that sleep longer, with higher quality sleep, who also have their cognitive abilities heightened would benefit parents and babies both.

tDCS, putting electrodes on the scalp and depolarizing brain neurons with about 2 ma of current, is published as having many effects. Depending on where the electrodes are placed the user's speed of videogames can be doubled. tDCS is also used to treat depression and raise mathematical ability.

One explanation I read is that the scalp current gradually (15 minutes) depolarizes neurons near the electrode, which is sometimes about 3 cm^2.

Sleep quality and perhaps length can be influenced with tDCS[link]. it is possible that the right locations and waveforms of tDCS could make infants sleep longer, be happier, and possibly learn faster.

So, with lots of safety research: the tDCs baby onesie!

Safety: nonhuman mammals could be given pro-sleep, pro-learning tDCS and then measured as to their cognitive function and social skills as "teen mammals". if the effect on the teens was beneficial or neutral then further studies on humans would commence.

But what about the gooey electrodes? tDCS depolarization is a gradual 15 minute process, so a new kind of electrode that is dry (conductive carbon fiber) could just sit on the side of the head, perhaps with just 40-60% intermittent contact and still do gradual depolarization. I have not read any research on intermittent electrode function (apparently new) but it seems likely to work.

The onesie would just have some carbon fiber bumpers on the inside of the hood, that mostly worked, most of the time, and could be wiped off.

they could even measure the amount of crying and fussing, and if this makes the babies happier that is a great benefit.

beanangel, Jan 30 2018

tDCS can cause sleepiness https://www.ncbi.nl...gov/pubmed/26964682
[beanangel, Jan 30 2018]

Sleep 20 or 30 minutes longer with tDCS https://www.ncbi.nl...gov/pubmed/26014344
Our preliminary results show that after termination of stimulations (sham or real), slow oscillatory transcranial direct current stimulation increased the duration of stage 3 of non-rapid eye movement sleep by 33 ± 26 min (P = 0.026), and decreased stage 1 of non-rapid eye movement sleep duration by 22 ± 17.7 min (P = 0.028), compared with sham. [beanangel, Jan 30 2018]

Reminds me of this sort of thing ... http://s3.crackedcd...s/wong/nutbelt3.jpg
[pertinax, Jan 31 2018]


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Annotation:







       (+) for the shear over-my-headedness of it.   

       OK, so basically ECT for babies?
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 30 2018
  

       Electrodes and wires? Sure. Anything to put my 2nd cousin to sleep and stay asleep...   

       Those Borg may be on to something.
RayfordSteele, Jan 30 2018
  

       This reminds me of those Victorian products which promised all sorts of health benefits from self-electrocution - but miniaturised, so more cute.
pertinax, Jan 31 2018
  

       Shouldn't tDCS ( trans-cranial Direct Current Stimulation) be tOCS (trans-cranial Oscillating Current Stimulation) because the experimenters are oscillating to mimic the natural frequencies of sleep starting.   

       It still doesn't feel right. I know nerves thrive in an electrically dynamic environment but it is outside to inside which a living body, except for it's official ports, goes from inside to outside. And this idea messes with complex learning algorithms. Especially in infants, this product would need some seriously solid data. Have an adult off the shelf product first.   

       Breaking point parents are still free to experiment as they find necessary (until authorities step in).
wjt, Feb 02 2018
  


 

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