It started with a phone call many years ago: “Justin, we like what you’re doing. Could you be in Stockholm in a few weeks?” Fast forward, and I found myself in meetings with some of the brightest engineers and executives. In the midst of it all, a chart caught my attention—a global ranking of coffee consumption per country.
As a neuroscientist, my first thought was, “Great, coffee helps with productivity, right?” But there’s more to the story. Caffeine, as it turns out, stays in your system far longer than most people realize. It ramps up your dopaminergic system—the brain’s reward circuitry—sometimes even before you take a sip. It also numbs the effects of adenosine, the brain’s natural marker for how long it’s been since you had truly refreshing sleep.
And no, I don’t mean just sleep—I mean refreshing sleep. Not the kind induced by a sleeping pill, but the natural, deep sleep that allows your brain to go through its deep cleaning cycle. Imagine inspecting a neuron with a white glove. Good sleep wipes away the residue of daily activity. Poor sleep? It leaves behind a toxic buildup of waste. This buildup causes brain fog, poor focus, increased risk of accidents, and over time, even conditions like dementia.
When you have a billion neurons—each an ultra-complex machine—trying to function and rebuild in a “dirty” environment, it’s no surprise things start to go wrong. Poor sleep disrupts memory, stifles creativity, and even hinders muscle memory. That piano sequence or jump shot you’re practicing? Forget about optimizing it if your brain is clicking save after the effort is put in.
The Vicious Cycle of Poor Sleep and Stress
Unfortunately, poor sleep doesn’t just affect the present—it creates a feedback loop. Sleep deprivation leads to stress. Stress ramps up cortisol levels, which impair your ability to convert short-term memories into long-term ones. Excessive stress causes anxiety, and too much anxiety can spiral into depression. This isn’t just a state of mind—it’s basic math.
Breaking the cycle requires reducing stress, inflammation, and taking deliberate brain breaks. Many people know this but struggle to act on it consistently. That’s why we built Zencora™.
The Zencora™ Solution
At Zencora™, we’ve designed vibroacoustic sound tables to give you a dedicated brain break station. With the press of a button, you can shut out the world, relax deeply, and reset. Users have described the experience as being like “immersive music” you can feel in every cell of your body.
Here’s where the science gets even more fascinating. Certain frequencies, like gamma waves at 40 Hz, have been shown to enhance the brain’s secondary cleaning processes. This frequency, slightly lower than your refrigerator’s hum, is associated with waste clearance in the brain. When embedded in music, sensory patterns, and vibrations, it nudges your brain into a state that clears out waste more efficiently, breaking the cycle of poor sleep and stress.
Now, the evidence supporting this is fantastic, and many groups are jumping on the bandwagon. You’ll see plug-in lights and headsets churning out flickering light and sound. At Zencora™, we thought, Sure, it’s easier to ship light bulbs and headsets—but what about the skin?The skin is the body’s largest organ, and we can’t ignore the part of the brain receiving those inputs. So, we built a framework to deliver multiple senses, including the sense of touch, through our vibroacoustic sound tables.
Our tables allow you to feel and hear gamma waves without having to think about it. The experience is seamless, deeply relaxing, and effective. Some people like flickering lights, and we respect that—but many want to shut that out entirely. That’s why we focus on sound and vibration, though we’ve also included light options as part of our intellectual property strategy.
Transforming Wellness
We didn’t build Zencora™ solely for better sleep, but that’s been the number one benefit reported by our users. It’s not magic—it’s math. Cleaner neurons allow your brain to do what it’s designed to do: function optimally, recharge, and thrive.
So, the next time you’re reaching for another cup of coffee or pushing through exhaustion, think about breaking the cycle instead. A dedicated brain break could be the key to better sleep, sharper focus, and a healthier you.
