Sleep, particularly at reasonable hours of the night, often alludes me. I have spent many a night, well into the early hours of the morning, wishing for sleep to find me. I have tried numerous approaches over the years, to no consistent avail. So when it was suggested that I try the Morphée sleep aid, I was glad to take the opportunity. Particularly an option that does not involve medication, nor expensive subscriptions and is easily portable, was all the more appealing.
First Impressions
The Morphée comes nicely packaged, with charging cord, instructions and wooden cover/stand. The Morphée itself is very charming and is rather reminisce of the music boxes one had as a child. With 210 individual sessions, it feels rather promising that I’ll find something to suit me. With its delightful golden selection keys, it gives the appearance that it will be intuitive to use.
In Use and Features
After fully charging the Morphée, starting with selecting the position of the keys (to select the theme, which theme track and the duration of the track), one then presses the power button and then play. There is also a slider button to choose either a male or female voice and volume buttons to adjust the volume.
One of the standout features is the variety of tracks with the purpose of increasing one’s ability to focus on different areas of the body or guiding your breathing, which helps to relax and focus on the present moment. The visualisation sessions also provide a nice escape and help to still the mind. The napping sessions are also a great option for a quick power nap during the day.
Seeing as there 8 different themes, with 8 sub-sections of each, and some with an additional variation if there is spoken word, with the option of a male or female voice, there are bound to be an option that would be appealing for most. To show what they’ve managed to integrate into one device, I thought I’d do an overview of each theme.
- The Body Scan sessions are designed to help you become more aware of different parts of your body and their sensations. This is a great way to focus on the present moment. The sessions are structured so that you focus on different parts of your body sequentially, helping you to relax and release tension in each area.
- The Breathing sessions are designed to help you focus on your breath and the duration and pace of your breaths. This can help to calm the mind and body and is a great way to prepare for sleep. The sessions guide you through different breathing exercises that can help you relax and release tension.
- The Movement sessions are designed to help you focus on the physical sensations in your body. The sessions guide you through exercises that involve contracting and relaxing your muscles, which can help to release tension and help you focus on your feelings and be present in the moment.
- The Visualisations sessions are designed to take you on a journey to help still your mind. These sessions guide you through different visualisations, such as relaxing on the beach, walking in the mountains, or going for a picturesque bike ride. This can be a great way to escape and relax your mind before sleep.
- The Cardiac Coherence sessions take you on a breathing journey to guide you to slow your breathes so that your body relaxes and your heart rate naturally decreases and helps you gradually fall asleep.
- The Napping sessions start with a 4-minute relaxation exercise, followed by 8 to 20 minutes of silence. This is then gently broken by nature sounds to help you peacefully wake up. This is a great option for a quick power nap during the day.
- The Relaxing Music tracks were specially composed for the Morphée. These tracks are designed to help you relax and prepare for sleep. The music is calming and soothing, and is a great way to create a peaceful environment before sleep.
- The Nature Sounds, when used with headphones, take you through an impressive 3D binaural journey from a rainy day, to sitting by the ocean, to enjoying the sounds of the jungle, or even the warm comfort of the sound of a cat purring. The nature sounds are soothing and provide a nice escape, helping you to relax and prepare for sleep.
I typically keep track of my sleep, with a smart watch, and was curious to see whether I would notice any significant changes to my fall asleep time, or to the depth of my sleep. With using it for a few weeks, I did seem to typically fall asleep faster, but it is still very much so hit or miss. Given I have delayed sleep phase disorder, that’s an aspect that I’m yet to find a consistent solution for. No perceptible difference to the amount of deep sleep or REM seemed to occur either. Nevertheless, any help with sleep is much more than welcome.
Complaints/Troubleshooting
As I presently sleep alone, I am happy to use the integrated speakers. However, whilst there is an audio jack for headphones, perhaps coming with Bluetooth for cordless sleep earphones, would be a welcome feature, so one does not feel like they’re tethered (this may be more of a reflection of me being a restless sleeper though). I do appreciate that a big drawcard of Morphée is that it has no screens or Bluetooth or WiFi waves, but perhaps an addon Bluetooth dongle could be an extra addon, for those that require it.
I’ve become so accustomed to at least seeing a small LED showing that the device is charging that it feels a little disconcerting without one being lit when charging. I initially thought that there was no LED included so as not to introduce noise pollution, but soon realised when I switched it on, that there was one that turns off when a track starts playing. Again, this is a minor point, but with having been caught out with not realising that a device is charging in the past, there is something quite frustrating about making such a discovery before wanting to sleep.
Lastly, not exactly a complaint, but it would be nice if a different variation of Morphée is released, in the future, and more binaural tracks were included amongst the other themes other than just the nature sounds. Whilst one does require headphones to be able to utilise them, binaural sounds seem to be consistently the most effective sleep induction tool that I’ve come across, so more of that in the Morphée would be welcome.
Conclusions
With the wide range of options, it’s likely that you’ll easily find a track that suits you. Being portable, not reliant on internet connectivity Morphée makes the perfect sleep companion at home and during travel. With having been caught out by certain phone apps not providing content due to no internet, even with being downloaded, it’s reassuring to have a device that won’t be caught out by such issues. I will be continuing to use the Morphée to help me relax before sleep.
The Morphée has a RRP of $149.99 and is available from online, Amazon AU and JB Hi-Fi and other retailers.
DRN would like to thank Morphée for the review unit.
