UPDATE: One Year Later on ”My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Sleep Device for Anxiety, Depression, and Sleep Management”

Welcome back to The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we cover the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning (for schools) and emotional intelligence training (in the workplace) with tools, ideas and strategies that we can all use for increased results.

I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and educator with a passion for learning specifically on the topics of health, wellbeing and productivity, and launched this podcast to share how important an understanding of our brain is for our everyday life and results--whether we are a teacher in the classroom, or in the modern workplace.

For today’s episode, I wanted to look back over the past 3 years and cover the most asked question that I receive via email, which stems from EPISODE #120 from last April 2021, on “My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device for Anxiety, Depression, Sleep and Stress Management”[i] which remains our most listened to episode of all time. We do have all of our past interviews that you can watch on YouTube[ii] and I would like to review our Top 25 in the near future (as chosen by YOU) because this is one very powerful list, with some surprises, and others who have remained at the top of the list every time I look.  Until then, I thought I’d answer the most asked question that comes in to me via email since it has to do with this most downloaded episode.

It’s no surprise that EPISODE #120 of “My Personal Review of the Fisher Wallace Wearable Medical Device” has had over 5,500+ downloads since we know that there has been “a global increase in depression and anxiety with tens of millions of additional cases reported globally in 2020”[iii] and from the emails I’ve received, it’s clear that people are searching for answers.

The question that I’ve answered the most since publishing that episode is:

“Do you still use the Fisher Wallace Device that you reviewed last year? If so, why?”

If you want to review our interview with Kelly Roman, the CEO of Fisher Wallace[iv] that markets this wearable medical device, that’s cleared by the FDA, for depression, insomnia and anxiety, I’ll link our interview from last February 2021[v] in the show notes and you can learn directly from Kelly Roman on why this device was described by Forbes as “one of four technologies innovating mental health.”

But to answer this question:

I absolutely, 100% still use the Fisher Wallace wearable device, every day for two 20 minute intervals.

***It’s important to note that this is not a paid endorsement of the product. When I interviewed Kelly Roman, I had not yet tried the device, and during the interview I mentioned that my brain scan with Amen Clinics showed signs of sleep deprivation,[vi] and I didn’t know how exactly I should fix that, other than “get more sleep.” At the end of the interview, Kelly offered to send me a device to try and see what I noticed, and I agreed.  While the details of this interview I had to review to remember, I didn’t forget that I I didn’t plan on wearing the device past the trial period. I remember thinking “I’ll see what happens” and just couldn’t imagine that this device would become a part of my daily routine along with my morning meditation.

***Also, another important reminder that I am not a medical doctor, and none of the advice, ideas or strategies I offer on this podcast should be taken as medical advice.

Back to the question…Do you still use the Fisher Wallace device, and why?

When I went back and reviewed the interview myself, I remember that I had never heard of a wearable device that was designed for anxiety, depression and insomnia. Even though these devices are not new, Kelly Roman shared with me that they actually originated from Russia in the 1960s and were called “electrosleep” devices, yet I still had never heard of a device like this for home use.

While I knew my sleep could use improving, I definitely didn’t suffer from insomnia, that neuroscientist Matt Walker dives deep into on his most recent podcast where he reminds us that insomnia, the most common sleep disorder affects ½ people and is classified when we have either “difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep or not feeling refreshed or restored by our sleep the next day.”[vii]  

None of these were me, but I had been measuring my sleep for months before trying the device and knew I could improve the time I was waking up at night, without knowing it, (which is called our WASO score- or wakefulness after sleep onset) so I took Kelly up on his offer to try the device to see if it could help me to stay asleep longer.

He was right with how simple and easy it was to try it out. While my device was gifted to me, I would have gla