A colleague recently turned me on to Kelly Howell, a self-described “sound healer” whose BrainSync tracks are catching on all over the office. Patrick and his wife have been listening to a track called Mayan Waves. “We’ve never slept better in our lives,” he said.

In a nutshell, each of Howell’s tracks is supposed to encourage your brain to function at a certain wavelength. “Beta” waves are supposed to make you more alert and spark creativity. “Theta” waves make you more relaxed and intuitive, while “delta” waves promote restorative sleep.

At first I thought it was just a bunch of New Age mumbo-jumbo, but actually there seems to be some pretty solid science behind this art. So I decided to give it a try.

After a couple of false starts with speakers (too loud) and ear buds (too uncomfortable), I finally ordered some SleepPhones. They were waiting for me last night when I got home at 11:30 p.m., after an exceptionally and ridiculously long day at the office.

Although I was riled up from several hours of intense work against a do-or-die deadline, I drifted off almost immediately. I vaguely remember wandering into the kitchen in search of cheese at about 3 a.m. But other than that, I was out cold.

I’m not sure yet whether I’ve joined the ranks of the brain-wave believers. But at least I’ve finally found an antidote to the neighbor’s beagle and to the frequent keggers across the street.

PS: While researching binaural beats, I stumbled across a rather alarming-sounding ailment. Fortunately, Exploding Head Syndrome is exceedingly rare—and actually quite harmless—but the name alone should earn its victims a few days off work. I wonder if BrainSync will come out with a track for EHS, too?