Our Story
We Couldn't Sleep Either.
The Breaking Point
Five years staring at the ceiling at 3 AM. Melatonin gummies gave me nightmares. Sleep apps made the anxiety worse. Weighted blankets trapped too much heat. Meditation apps had me wondering if I was meditating right. Every product promised sleep. None of them asked why I couldn't sleep.
The Realization
So I did what any sleep-deprived neuroscience grad would do. I read every paper. And the pattern was staring me in the face. The problem wasn't in my head. It was in my senses. Sleep is sensory. Light kills melatonin. Irregular noise jolts you awake. Deep pressure calms the nervous system. Scent hits the amygdala directly.
Building the System
Every product on the market picked one pathway and called it a day. A sleep mask. A white noise machine. A pillow spray. Nobody put them together. Nobody built a protocol based on how the sensory system actually works. The products worked. They just weren't enough on their own. We spent two years sourcing, testing, and iterating. Every product built as part of the system, not in isolation.
SOMNI Launches
The 3D Contour Mask had to complement the White Noise Machine. The Pillow Spray had to work with the Weighted Mask. Each piece makes the others stronger. We're not a wellness brand. We're a neuroscience company that happens to make good-looking sleep tools.
What We Believe
A sleep mask is a light-blocking device for your internal clock. Nothing less.
White noise masks irregular sound. Your brainstem stops flinching. That's the whole trick.
Deep pressure triggers your vagus nerve. Neurochemistry, not coziness. Serotonin up, cortisol down, measured in studies.
Pillow spray targets GABA receptors in your amygdala. Same pathway as anti-anxiety meds, just through your nose.
Dr. Adrian Voss
Founder & Neuroscientist
PhD in Neuroscience, University of Zurich. Sleep Lab at Max Planck Institute, 2014-2018. Published 12 papers on circadian rhythms and sensory processing. Diagnosed with chronic insomnia in 2016. Tested every protocol on himself for two years before anything worked.
Left academia in 2020 to build SOMNI. Now sleeps 7.5 hours a night and spends his days explaining to investors why a sleep mask is actually a medical device.
Adrian Voss
Combine all four and sleep stops being something you chase. It just happens.
Sleeping 7.5 hours a night since 2021