Most people have no idea you can actually measure your brainwaves at home. I thought the same.
I always imagined you’d need some huge machine in a science lab to see that stuff.
And it’s not just stress levels or sleep stages. It’s the actual alpha, beta, delta, theta and gamma brainwaves. And some other extra metrics too.
All in real time.
That’s exactly what the Muse Athena headband does. And it’s probably one of the most unusual and fascinating devices I’ve ever tried. I tested direct feedback meditation, digital sleeping pills, sleep tracking and how sleep tracking compares to the Whoop MG.
Full disclosure, I got the device for free for this review, but after a week of testing, I’m buying one for myself.
I also had full freedom to say what I want about it.
Should you get one? How does it work? How good is it?
Let me tell you all about it. What I love and what I think is its biggest problem right now.
Let’s dive in!
Brainwaves?
So, what exactly are brainwaves? They’re basically patterns of electrical activity in the brain. It’s all those neurons firing in all directions when your brain is working.
Different frequencies correspond to different states of mind.
- Delta waves are the slowest, linked to deep sleep and recovery.
- Theta waves are a bit faster, often connected to relaxation, creativity, and that drowsy just-before-sleep state.
- Alpha waves show up when you’re calm but alert, like during meditation.
- Beta waves are tied to focus, problem-solving, or sometimes stress.
- And Gamma waves are the fastest, often linked to learning, memory, and peak cognitive performance.
Athena can actually pick up on these different rhythms, so you’re not just meditating blindly.
You’re seeing which state your brain is in, in real time. And then you can dig even deeper in data and stats afterwards.
Lots of juicy graphs in there!
Athena?
Athena is a meditation support device. I know, this sounds a bit confusing. Let me explain.
What it does is it gives you direct feedback to what your brain is doing. No more guessing whether your brain did quiet down or not. That makes it easier to train the mind while meditating.
I often caught myself, during meditation thinking something along these lines:
Oh, I’m now so calm. Not thinking for such a long time… Wait… That was a thought. Oh… Let’s try not thinking again…
Brainwave tracking wearable?
It’s a headband that combines EEG, which measures your brain’s electrical activity, with something called fNIRS. It’s a technology that looks at blood flow in the brain.
Think of it as a spotlight — it shows which parts of your brain are working harder.
Together, it gives you a surprisingly detailed picture of what’s happening in your mind while you’re awake, meditating, or sleeping.
Normally, this type of brain imaging is only available in labs or research centers, but Muse has somehow packed it into a wearable you can just slip on at home. Or on the beach.
Build quality
It came in this nice paper box and inside it was vacuum sealed. Nice touch!
It weighs 41 grams and is made from soft, comfortable fabric. It has the electronics on the front, which positions it on your forehead.
It looks and feels like a premium product. Comfortable and well built.
My experience
The headband needs a mobile app to work. It connects using bluetooth and then you can experience the meditations.
After a quick onboarding I was thrown into a state in which calming down my thoughts resulted in heavy rain turning into a slow drizzle with birds chirping.
Seeing that connection happen, the audio feedback actually reacting to my brain felt magical.
I normally have a steady, calm mind. So we also tested this with my wife. She did the exact same exercise, and she has a lot more thoughts in her head.
The result was completely different.
Wow!
There are many different meditations in the app, with different goals, all synced up to what your brain is doing.
I have yet to go through more of them and see long-term changes, but having that direct feedback makes it a lot easier.
It’s meditation in which you simply know what’s going on directly instead of just feeling.
Sleep
I also tested sleep tracking. It can track your sleep by detecting it automatically or you can use special sleeping meditations.
They’re called digital sleeping pills and range from 20 minutes to about an hour.
I don’t really have trouble falling asleep, but those 20 minute ones seemed to have sped it up by a few minutes from normal.
Not a big shift though.
Compared to the Whoop MG , the sleep tracking was quite accurate and generally the headband is more accurate than the whoop.
The times in REM, DEEP, light and total sleep time all varied by maybe 5 minutes. That’s very good.
The only odd thing is the headband tracked a much higher heart rate in the second part of the night but it may be because my head shifted.
Whoop also didn’t track a tiny bit of extra deep sleep in the second half of the night that the Athena did pick up.
It also tracks when you sleep on your back, on the side, and which side and shows that as percentages.
It’s a huge set of data. A lot more than a simple wristband can give you. All the brain waves, positions, calmness…
And here we get to…
The biggest issue
I think the biggest problem with the Athena is the mobile app itself. Not the device.
The device is great.
The meditations themselves are really nice too.
But the way the app shows you data is … well let’s just say dry. It shows all those sections and graphs and charts but absolutely no interpretation.
When I took screenshots and uploaded them to AI it gave me a tonne of actually fun insights.
Which waves did what in which sleep stage, what those peaks in gamma waves could be and more. And it was delivered in a language avoiding scientific jargon completely.
Easy to grasp and engaging.
Most people don’t understand all the graphs by just looking at them.
A friendly breakdown of what happened exactly at which stage of the night would be awesome.
Right now it’s not there and I had to do the AI workaround with multiple screenshots. For example, Grok provided me with this based on my sleep stages AND delta wave tracking screenshots.
“Delta waves dominate deep sleep, theta shows up in light and REM sleep — Athena can pick those up, which is why the sleep tracking is so detailed.” It can detect when your dreams were especially vivid too.
But you don’t get that information in the app.
The app could also be a little bit more intuitive – but I say this as an app designer for over two decades.
I look at apps differently.
Actually take a quick look at how I would change just a tiny bit of the sleep summary screen vs the original one.
Battery life
The battery life is around 10 hours, which means if you plan to take it to bed it’s best to charge it before.
I wish it was more like 16-24h battery. Maybe in the next version?
It’s not a big deal though.
Should you get one?
The app is the only issue but it’s not a huge issue. It’s easy to fix.
The device itself… that is magical. Being able to get direct feedback with just your thoughts, and see all the brainwaves in action?
In a small, light device like that?
Yeah, pure magic!
My brain is generally calm, I don’t feel overwhelmed by rushing thoughts. But I do see how much easier it is to meditate better with it.
Having feedback means you don’t have to FEEL what’s going on, you hear it directly and can adjust.
And that is another example of how exciting living in the future is. Scanning your brain waves at home? Using your mind to control the weather sounds?
You can get your own Muse with my affiliate link right here but I didn’t get any cash for the review itself.
I am going to continue to experiment with the device further.
First impressions however?
REALLY GOOD!
You can also watch my full review in video form on my YouTube channel:
