This Headband Reads Your Brainwaves And Creates A Chart Showing How 'Zen' You Are

Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider Me wearing the Muse brain sensing headband

Muse, a brainwave reading headband, aims to help you do more with your mind and reduce stress.

The Muse headband has seven sensors - five on the forehead, and two behind the ears.

Those sensors detect and measure your brain activity, just as a heart rate monitor measures your heart rate.

Through its software, Muse offers brain-training exercises, real-time coaching, and feedback. The idea is that the more you use it, the more relaxed you will feel. Eventually, you'll also be able to maintain your focus better.

The session I tried while at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week starts with some calibration exercises to make sure the headband is fitted properly and that all of the sensors are picking up your brain activity.

Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider

Next, you have to think about different topics for a while to see what your active mind looks like. During the exercise, a woman directs you (through headphones) to close your eyes, relax, and breathe. As your mind calms down, you'll hear light winds. The less focused you are, the louder the winds. If you reach an ultimate state of zen, you might even hear beautiful birds chirping. Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider I never heard birds. And in all honesty, it was pretty noisy for me the whole time.Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider These are my sad, sad results. It seems that I was never able to reach a state of zen. You can see in the chart below that my brain was pretty darn active for most of the session.Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider I clearly need some more training, but there was only so much time I could spend fixing my hyperactive mind at CES. The Muse headband will be available for $270, with the first units shipping this spring.

Megan Rose Dickey/Business Insider