Thread: Published in Nature Neuroscience: 77% induction rate with electrodes on the scalp at 40 Hertz

Originally Posted by Highlander

To be fair, Wolf is referring to the figure that Voss, et al used.
"tACS. Low-intensity sinusoidal alternating current (250 μA peak to peak) was applied

That is what Voss used (0,25mA), not the safety limit!
Jeff used 2mA and had better results.
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Michael from Lucidscribe has also set his device at 2mA.
Anyway, if the lower amplitude of a device seems irritating enough, the solution is simple: add a resistor (~1kΩ) in series, and choose a comfortable setting (amplitude drops this way).

Originally Posted by MisakaMikoto

What do you guys think?

No. Not good. The device has 2 frequency ranges, 1-20 and 50-100 Hz. 40 Hz is missing!
The method you suggest for using it is not good either. You will probable not be able to sleep with the stimulation on. You have to activate it later - during REM or experimentally at a random time after WBTB. Activation during REM requires a complicated setup. The easy and cheap way is to randomly activate the stimulation with a time delay relay and hope that it hits REM - chances are that it will most of the time after WBTB.

So... I said I had an idea about how to make a DIY tACS device for less than 20€.
I tried it and it didn't work...
Nevertheless, I will share the idea as it leads to another one that will almost certainly work, but is not that cheap and not that easy... nevertheless, it is a possible setup.
The concept was this: I already owned a TENS device with a few presets but not 40hz capability (similar devices can be purchased for 8 -15€). What I would do is this: I would use my iphone app DreamZ to detect REM sleep and play a 40hz audio file (at max volume). The audio signal would be fed to a small motor (I used one from a toy RC helicopter) that would oscillate. I would then create an oscillating relay by attaching wires to the side and the axis of the motor (they would make contact and separate 40 times/sec). All I needed to do then was connect the TENS Device (set to a seemingly continuous mode) through my home-made oscillating relay and a 40hz stimulus would be delivered during REM sleep!

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Unfortunately, while the oscillating relay worked just fine (eg when connecting a LED light, it flashed rapidly), when the TENS device was connected, it gave out bursts of non-periodic, irregular stimulations..
I really don't know exactly why, but I suspect that the difference between the stimulation frequency and the relay frequency resulted in the perceived bursts of current.
So, is there a way to use the app and the audio signal to trigger a TENS - EMS device? Yes, there is but to do that:
1. You need a device capable of generating a 40 Hz pulse (more expensive)
2. You need to rectify and amplify the audio signal before feeding it to a relay - and it is not that easy. However it can be done. So you hook up the EMS device to the relay that is fed with the audio signal from the app and there you go.
There are also other ways to do the same thing, eg using the audio signal as a pulse width modulation to activate a Servo (that you modify to act as a relay).
On the other hand, there is the easy - but not so reliable - method of just time-delaying the signal and hoping to hit REM, or perhaps (as suggested by NyxCC) raising awareness during non-REM , and actively initiating the REM state (i.e. a Lucid dream).