Neurotechnologies for the Nonpharmacological Treatment of Sleep Disorders

Sleep is needed for maintenance of normal homeostasis and memory consolidation processes and the deep third stage of sleep plays a particularly important role. However, a significant proportion of the population suffers from poor sleep quality, insomnia, and problems with going to sleep. Pharmacological treatment of these problems is not always possible or appropriate, and in recent years we have seen increasing interest in nonpharmacological methods of influencing falling asleep and sleep. This review addresses various approaches to improving sleep quality and accelerating going to sleep: sensory actions of different modalities, approaches using transcranial stimulation, and normalization of daily sleep–waking rhythms. This article considers their main possible mechanisms of action. Nonpharmacological treatments most commonly produce increases in slow-wave activity in the third stage of sleep. The areas of application of different approaches are assessed: from exclusively research purposes to application in clinical practice and use in consumer devices.