Lucid dreaming, for the lucky people who are able to master it, is a terrific therapeutic tool that can help people suffering from an array of ailments. It can be achieved over time through dedicated practice, but designer Octavio A. Martinez García has developed a device that hacks the dreaming mind to allow anyone the benefits of lucid dreaming.

Napz is a sleep mask that features lights on the inside. The mask detects when you enter REM sleep – the sleep stage where you are most likely to dream vividly. The integrated lights begin to blink when you’re in REM sleep, stimulating the brain to bring you just to the brink of consciousness.

While in this state, it is possible for you, the dreamer, to control what happens in your dreams. Ironically, bringing you up to the edge of wakefulness from a deep sleep can actually help you achieve better quality sleep. Because everyone’s sleep patterns are different, the device has to be calibrated to each individual to provide the optimal lucid dreaming experience.

Napz was introduced at London’s Digital Design Weekend 2015, where people were allowed to give the sleeping mask a test drive. We doubt anyone was actually able to fall into a deep sleep while trialling the device, but it was perhaps a useful introduction to the concept of lucid dreaming and how it can help promote a healthier brain and body.

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Wearable technology has the potential to take our lives to a whole new level, but so far the emerging contenders are a little disappointing. Google Glass is far less useful and versatile than we expected it to be, and smart watches are similarly disappointing in their scope.

The future of wearables, however, might be objects that go under the skin rather than outside of it. New Deal Design envisions the future as a gadget like UnderSkin.

Just like it sounds, UnderSkin is a wearable that is embedded beneath the skin on your hand and runs off of the electrical energy created by your body. The UnderSkin is a flat, pentagonal device that, while it isn’t close to being produced yet, the designers believe will become common within approximately five years.

The possibilities for the UnderSkin range from the mundane – unlocking doors or making payments – to the intriguingly personal, like providing health alerts or exchanging contact information between two wearers. Different display patterns on the lights in the device could indicate what kind of information is being provided or exchanged.

One of the potential challenges of the UnderSkin system is future obsolescence. Mobile phones have progressed light years in just a short time, and it would be considerably more difficult to upgrade a device that’s actually implanted in your body.

Even with these potential obstacles, UnderSkin and other similar wearables could facilitate the simple exchange of information without requiring us to constantly stare at screens.

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