Can you control your sleep with a headband? I found out.

NEW YORK, NY – The office green room has been transformed into a slumber alcove. The narrow couch is prepped with three pillows and a fluffy blanket, and I’ve arrived in my most comfortable work slacks and a cozy red sweater.

I’d been waiting for this nap all day. The only problem? I can never fall asleep.

Sure, when I’m sick I’ll sleep through the day, and maybe every other month, I’ll fall asleep on a Friday evening for a few hours to rest up before the weekend. But a 20-minute power nap when there’s a million things on my to-do list? I can’t get my mind to quiet enough for that.

If you’re like me and struggle to nap, you might be curious about Elemind, a wearable headband that uses neurotechnology to help people fall asleep faster.

The Elemind headband is typically used to facilitate a full night of sleep, but I got to try it out for a 30 minute, mid-afternoon nap.

Meredith Perry, Elemind CEO, walked me through the set-up process, connected my headband to the Elemind app and adjusted the device to sit firmly on my forehead. The headband emits acoustic simulation that responds to the user’s brainwaves to induce sleep by suppressing alpha waves, which occur when the brain is in a relaxed state but still awake. Perry says it will not keep you asleep or regulate your sleep stages, but it can help you fall back asleep if you wake up in the middle of the night.

The material was pleasant and the fit was comfortable; by the time I laid down, I wasn’t paying much attention to it. Once my earplugs and eye mask were in place, I was ready to sleep. I began to hear the modulation vibrations hitting my forehead; it sounded almost like crickets on a summer night.

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Wearing the headband and committing to the demo forced me to give sleep my full attention. I felt as though at least 15 minutes had passed, and while I hadn’t fallen asleep, I did find it to be a mindful practice. I kept my eyes shut, let my body feel heavy against the couch and allowed fleeting thoughts to pass me by. If I hadn’t been trying so hard to relax, I probably would have reached for my phone (or in this case, just gone back to work).

But I started to feel myself slip into a dream, and to my surprise, I had fallen into light sleep.

When Perry came back into the green room, I was unaware of how much time had passed. I felt more grounded than I had going into the demo but also groggier. My data reported that I was awake for 22 minutes, and fell into light sleep for 10 minutes. While I was able to find my zen, it wasn’t a substantial nap.

According to Ryan Neely, VP of Science and Research at Elemind, I have a strong alpha wave oscillation, which is a type of brain wave that occurs when the brain is in a relaxed state, but awake.

"Most people when they shut their eyes but they're still awake, they start generating this alpha oscillation. That tends to be associated with wakefulness as you're trying to fall asleep," he says. "There's some evidence that in people with insomnia, that is enhanced."

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I am also prone to migraines, and I did feel a tension headache coming on later in the afternoon, which I supressed with some caffeine and ibuprofen. However, Neely says that participants in their clinical trials have not reported migraines with their use of the headband. I’m inclined to believe that sleeping for such a short time and just wanting to go back to sleep is what contributed to my late-afternoon haze.

"If you had finally gotten to sleep, and then you get 10 minutes to sleep and have to wake back up again, it's jarring," he says.

That's why the goal of Elemind is to maximize sleeping time, so that time spent in bed isn't wasted on tossing and turning, Neely explains.

The Elemind headband can be bought on their website for $349, with an annual membership to their app starting at $6.99/month, where you can access your sleep tracking data. The headband can function with or without the app, so an ongoing subscription is not required.

From my experience, I'm uncertain if Elemind would benefit my nightly routine. I don't settle down until after midnight, and my problem is with winding down. Once my eyes finally shut, I'm so tired that it takes little time for me to fall asleep. But coming from someone who never naps, I'm impressed that the headband let me sneak in a quick rest break, especially with my colleagues seated just 100 feet away.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can you control your sleep with a headband? I tried with Elemind.