Can’t Sleep in Perimenopause? Check out how the Muse 2 Headband might help- and help calm a racing mind!

Honest Review Muse 2 Headband: Can it help you sleep?

Are night sweats waking you up drenched? Do anxious, racing thoughts keep you tossing and turning long after bedtime? If you’re suffering through the unpredictable hormone shifts of perimenopause or menopause, you’re not alone — and your sleep struggles are real.

The Muse 2 headband is an innovative tool that offers something many of us deeply need during this season: a way to calm the mind, regulate stress, and invite restful sleep- naturally.

This blog contains affiliate links, which can save you money at no additional cost, and for which I may earn a small commission. I only write about products I have tried and tested.

What Is the Muse 2 Headband?

Muse 2 is a wearable meditation assistant that uses EEG (electroencephalogram) sensors to monitor your brainwaves, heart rate, breath, and posture in real time. It wraps around your forehead and behind your ears — is lightweight and surprisingly comfortable — and connects to a companion app that gives immediate feedback on your brain waves and other data.

This data driven device is packed with info that can help you tune into your body’s rhythms, especially when hormones are making everything feel off balance.

Why It Matters in Perimenopause

In perimenopause, falling and staying asleep can feel impossible. Fluctuating estrogen and progesterone disrupt your nervous system and stress hormones like cortisol often surge at night, leaving you wired when you should be winding down.

Muse 2 helps guide you into your parasympathetic state — your body’s natural “rest and digest” mode. When we spend more time in this calming state, cortisol begins to regulate, our minds quiet down, and sleep comes more easily.

It’s not just about meditation — it’s about reclaiming your calm during a time when your body feels like it’s constantly changing.

🌙 Related read:Understanding Brain Fog During Perimenopause: Your Ultimate Guide to Mental Clarity

Muse Features that assist Hormone Harmony

Muse 2 isn’t a standard meditation app — it’s a tracker that helps you understand your brain waves and stress levels.  It acts like a real-time meditation coach by using EEG sensors to monitor your brain activity while you meditate. It translates your mental state into audio feedback — calm minds trigger peaceful sounds like rainfall, while distracted or stressed minds create stormier soundscapes.

To summarize it uses:

• EEG sensors to track brain activity

• Heart rate monitoring for stress feedback

• Breath tracking to guide rhythmic, calming breaths

• Posture sensors to support body awareness

• App-based feedback that turns brain activity into soundscapes (more on that in a moment)

Together, these help you become more aware of how your mind and body respond to stress, and how to bring yourself back to balance.

🧠 Related read: How Cortisol Impacts Your Hormones During Perimenopause

How Real-Time Feedback Helps with Sleep

Here’s where Muse 2 can help with sleep- as you meditate or prepare for bed, your brain activity is translated into soothing soundscapes. A calm mind triggers soft rainfall. A busy, stressed mind? You’ll hear stormy weather.

The technique is not about judging you or making you feel like a “bad meditator” — it’s about awareness. You begin to notice your thought patterns, and the sound gently guides you to shift into stillness.

This can be super helpful for women struggling with racing thoughts or hormone-induced anxiety at bedtime. Over time, someone struggling with sleep can build a new bedtime habit: calming the mind, relaxing the body, and preparing the nervous system for deep rest.

💤 Related read: A Complete Guide: How Does Perimenopause Affect You 

Muse Digital Sleeping Pills

The Muse app’s Digital Sleeping Pills (DSPs) offer a non-pharmaceutical solution for those struggling with sleep disturbances, particularly beneficial for women experiencing perimenopause-related insomnia, which is incredibly common. These DSPs are exclusively available on the Muse S headband (both Gen 1 and Gen 2 models, and the Athena model).​

How Digital Sleeping Pills Work:

DSPs are responsive audio experiences designed to help you fall asleep and return to sleep if awakened during the night. Utilizing EEG technology, the Muse S headband monitors your brain activity and employs “Smart-Fade” technology to adjust audio content accordingly. This approach aids in calming the mind and facilitating a smoother transition into sleep.​

Types of DSP Content:

• Sleep Stories: Narratives, including classic tales and original stories, aimed at gently engaging the mind while lulling you to sleep (if this sounds good but you aren’t ready to invest in the Muse you could check out the Calm app sleep stories- no advanced technology but they do have some nice stories that can lull you to sleep)

• Ambient Soundscapes: Soothing background sounds without narration to create a peaceful environment.​

• Biofeedback Soundscapes: Nature sounds and music that respond to your biofeedback, promoting relaxation.​

• Guided Sleep Meditations: Sessions led by meditation instructors to guide you into restful sleep.​

These features are beneficial for managing sleep disruptions associated with hormonal changes during perimenopause. By providing immediate support to calm the mind, DSPs can help reduce nighttime awakenings and improve overall sleep quality.

Gamified Calm: Motivation That Sticks

When you aren’t feeling your best, sleeping poorly and/or moods are up and down, it can be difficult to focus on meditation or establish healthy routines. Muse 2, along with other biofeedback devices like Heart Math, make it easier with gamification features that reward you for showing up, and features like the soundscape mentioned above. You earn points, unlock achievements, and track progress over time.

This is especially helpful when you’re trying to build consistency with calming practices like meditation and sound sleep, which become even more critical during hormone transitions.

The Good and the Bad: Honest User Feedback

Muse 2 isn’t perfect, no device or tool is perfect for everyone.  Here’s what users are saying:

• It takes time to get used to the fit and sensors (especially if you have thicker hair or bangs).  You do have to pull back your hair and the sensors have to have good contact with the skin.

• The app and Bluetooth can be finicky at times, but this has improved over time and is much better with newer updates.

• It’s not immediate- you have to do at least 10 sessions for the device to get to know you, and it’s effectiveness builds from there.

• It’s an investment (typically $250–$300), and the Athena Muse model is even more expensive- but also more focused on optimizing brain flow, providing neurofeedback, and helping further with sleep (but it comes with a $500 plus price tag- and a premium subscription bundle of the app, which is helpful).  If you’d like to check one out you can save 20% with this link!

• My experience: After using Muse for 2 weeks, I found my sleep was greatly improved, and I was able to get a good handle on my stress response and my heart rate variability.  These improvements helped to improve my mood and energy levels.  At times I had issues with the Bluetooth connectivity but I think that can happen with any app. Overall, I found it a very useful tool for my brain health, meditation practice, and sleep!

That said, many women, including myself, find that the benefits—better sleep, calmer evenings, and fewer 2 -4 AM worry spirals—are well worth it.

Is the Muse 2 Worth It?

Muse 2 is a clinical-grade EEG device, not just another app. For women looking for medication-free support, it offers something unique: insight. It makes the invisible — your brainwave activity and stress levels — visible and manageable, and helps you feel like you can take actionable steps to improve your cortisol and sleep.

The Muse S Athena offers an even more advanced approach to meditation, cortisol balance, and sleep. Muse Athena is a newer addition to the Muse family and represents a more discreet, targeted option for EEG-based meditation. Unlike the Muse 2, which wraps around your head like a traditional band, the Athena is a small, wireless EEG device that attaches discreetly to your temple.

It’s designed to be worn throughout the day — or even during sleep — to passively monitor your brain activity and help you stay aware of your mental state in real time. The Athena connects to the Muse app to deliver similar audio feedback (like soothing soundscapes) and guided meditations to help you shift from stress to calm more easily.

And when you’re in perimenopause or menopause, insight is power. The more we understand our bodies and minds, the better we can support ourselves through this transformation.  And the poor sleep that goes along with menopause and perimenopause can make all of the other symptoms worse, so tools that can help are game changers.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve tried all the usual sleep tips — magnesium, melatonin, white noise, lavender — and you’re still feeling wired and restless, the Muse 2 could definitely be a helpful tool, particularly if you need help lowering stress and improving your brain health.

By gently guiding your brain into calmer states and helping you become more aware of stress patterns, it empowers you to reclaim rest naturally, without needing another supplement or prescription.

It won’t fix everything overnight, but with consistent use, it may become a trusted part of your hormone-support routine.

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You may also want to check out:

Best DIM Supplements for Estrogen Balance in Perimenopause (Doctor Recommended)

Menopause and Hair Loss: What Are Your Options?

Understanding Brain Fog During Perimenopause: Your Ultimate Guide to Mental Clarity