Delta wave inducer

Physicians throughout the Federation use delta wave inducers to help patients enter a deep and restful sleep. Starfleet cadets and other students sometimes use inducers to get to sleep before an important performance review. Most humanoid brains oscillate in a certain range of resonance frequencies (known as delta waves) while asleep; this device artificially induces this state and eases the subject into sleep.

The delta wave inducer is a partial headband that fits comfortably over the user's forehead and temples. The device activates a series of superconducting nickel-rhombium zeta-meson projectors. The zeta-meson fields produced by the delta wave inducer oscillate in the same frequency as delta waves, and cause the neurons in the user's brain to fire in a similar pattern through mesonic induction. Within five minutes of activation the user falls into a sound sleep. Normally the unit turns itself off after ten minutes, although a physician may program it to keep the user asleep for a set period of time, waking him up by damping out the delta waves in his brain. Doctors advise healthy subjects who simply need help getting to sleep not to use this unit more than twice a week to avoid psychological dependence.

Reference(s)

• Isaacs, Ross A., et al. Starfleet Academy Handbook, New York: Last Unicorn Games, 1999.