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Understand the loop
Pre-sleep cognitive arousal — worry, planning, replaying and monitoring — is associated with difficulty switching off.
Why we built
Ethereal Flow.
Because a switched-on mind needs more than another generic sleep track.
Most people do not arrive at bed with a blank mind. They arrive with unfinished thoughts, worry, replaying, planning or pressure that is still switched on.
Sleep research shows that this kind of pre-sleep cognitive activity matters. That is where Ethereal Flow starts.
Science-informed
Personalised sleep support
Built specifically for you
This started with a problem we had ourselves.
We were already using meditation, sleep audio, breathing techniques and other tools in our own lives. Some of them helped. Some of them didn’t. And the more we looked into it, the more obvious it became that the hard part wasn’t finding techniques — it was knowing which ones were right for you, when to use them, and how they should work together.
We both became increasingly fascinated by sleep science, neuroscience, psychology and the different ways people can change how they respond at night. We kept reading, testing and comparing approaches, partly because we wanted to understand it for ourselves.
What struck us was how much useful work was already out there, but how much of the responsibility was still left with the person lying awake at night to somehow piece it all together. Most people are busy. They are already trying their best. They shouldn’t need to become an expert in sleep science just to work out what might help them.
That was the frustration that led us to build Ethereal Flow.
We wanted to take what we were learning, what had helped us, and the research behind it, and turn it into something much simpler: a personalised protocol that does the thinking for you.
The problem wasn’t finding help. It was knowing what would actually help.
There is no shortage of sleep content. Meditation, breathing exercises, affirmations, visualisation, sleep stories, apps and courses — there is an enormous amount to choose from.
The difficulty is knowing what actually applies to you.
If your mind is racing at night, are you trying to calm your body, interrupt a thought pattern, redirect your attention, work with a belief, use imagery — or combine several approaches in a particular order?
Most people do not have the time, or the reason, to work all of that out for themselves.
Ethereal Flow was built to take away that hard work — to use your answers to understand your individual night-time pattern, then determine the right techniques, sequence, language and pacing for one Personalised Sleep Protocol built specifically for you.
So we went deep.
We became obsessed with understanding what actually works. We immersed ourselves in the research across the disciplines that matter most.
Sleep science
Neuroscience
Psychology
Cognitive behavioural research
Guided imagery
Meditation
Breathwork
Learning + memory
We looked at what the evidence supported, what techniques were being used, why they were being used, what belonged together, what should come first, what needed repetition, and what should change depending on the person.
The science goes deeper than relaxation.
Rehearse a different response.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW + META-ANALYSIS94 STUDIES · 5,685 PARTICIPANTS2021
Mental simulation produced a reliable positive effect on subsequent behaviour. The systematic review and meta-analysis covered 94 studies, 5,685 participants and 123 effect sizes. In sleep-specific research, pre-sleep imagery reduced unwanted cognitive activity and shortened sleep-onset latency relative to no instruction.
For a mind caught in the same night-time loops, that matters: the goal is not simply to suppress the thought. It is to give the mind a different response to practise.
Cole et al. (2021). “Synthesizing the Effects of Mental Simulation on Behavior Change: Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis.”
Supporting sleep study: Harvey AG, Payne S. (2002). “The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia: distraction with imagery versus general distraction.” Behaviour Research and Therapy.
What you practice before sleep can matter after lights out.
NATURE REVIEWS NEUROSCIENCE · 2010NEURON · 2023MEMORY CONSOLIDATION
Sleep does more than switch the brain off. It plays an active role in processing and consolidating what we’ve recently learned and experienced. Research shows that memories can be reactivated and reorganised during sleep, helping recently encoded learning become more established.
That’s why repetition matters. Your protocol gives you the opportunity to practise a different response before sleep, while sleep itself supports the brain’s natural process of memory consolidation.
Diekelmann S, Born J. (2010). “The memory function of sleep.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11:114–126.
Brodt S, Inostroza M, Niethard N, Born J. (2023). “Sleep—A brain-state serving systems memory consolidation.” Neuron, 111(7):1050–1075.
This is the science behind Flow Codex™: identify the pattern, introduce a useful response, and shape the sequencing, language and repetition around the individual.
EXPLORE THE FULL SCIENCE →
EXPLORE THE FULL SCIENCE →
FLOW CODEX™
Flow Codex™ is the system behind every Personalised Sleep Protocol.
The science tells us what works. Flow Codex™ determines what matters for you.
We built Flow Codex™ to turn a deep body of sleep science, psychology and behavioural research into one precisely designed Personalised Sleep Protocol.
It takes your assessment, identifies the pattern within your answers, and makes the detailed decisions that shape your protocol: the techniques, sequencing, language, imagery, repetition and pacing, so every element works together deliberately.
Behind that process sits a wide research base and a deep library of possible approaches. The value of Flow Codex™ is not simply having those options. It is knowing how to interpret your answers and combine the right elements in the right way for you.
Nothing is generic. Nothing is arbitrary. Every decision has a reason.
Your pattern. Your priorities. Your protocol.
RESEARCH TRANSLATED INTO PRECISION.
Built on established sleep, psychological and behavioural science.
The science is not decoration. It shapes the order of the experience.
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Prepare the state
Breathing, relaxation and body-settling can support physiological calm-down regulation and create a better starting state.
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Change the response
Established psychological sleep approaches work with thoughts, beliefs and responses rather than relying only on passive relaxation.
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Rehearse the alternative
Guided imagery and mental rehearsal give attention a coherent direction and can support practising alternative responses.
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Repeat + sleep consolidation
Repeated practice supports learning. Sleep is an active period of memory processing and consolidation.
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Personalise + sequence
Flow Codex™ uses your answers to determine which evidence-informed mechanisms, pacing, language, imagery and sequence are most relevant for your pattern.
The evidence goes deeper than a few headline claims.
This page gives the practical summary. The full evidence base goes further.
The method draws on established research across sleep science, psychology, cognitive behavioural research, relaxation, guided imagery, learning and memory. Below are six of the core research areas shaping the approach.
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Pre-sleep cognitive arousal
Lemyre A, Belzile F, Landry M, Bastien CH, Beaudoin LP. “Pre-sleep cognitive activity in adults: A systematic review.” Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2020;50:101253.
Systematic-review evidence links insomnia and difficulty initiating sleep with greater sleep-interfering thoughts, worry, monitoring, planning and cognitive arousal.
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Slow breathing + autonomic regulation
Laborde S, et al. “Effects of voluntary slow breathing on heart rate and heart rate variability: A systematic review and meta-analysis.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 2022;138:104711.
A large systematic review and meta-analysis found measurable effects of slow breathing on autonomic regulation, including vagally mediated heart-rate variability.
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Progressive relaxation + body settling
Donato KQ, et al. “Progressive muscle relaxation technique improves sleep quality and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2026. PMID 41633054.
Meta-analytic evidence across randomised trials supports progressive muscle relaxation as a sleep-support and body-settling technique.
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Cognitive, mindfulness + acceptance components
Furukawa Y, et al. “Components and Delivery Formats of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Insomnia in Adults.” JAMA Psychiatry. 2024;81(4):357–365. Supporting: Riemann D, et al. “The European Insomnia Guideline.” Journal of Sleep Research. 2023.
Large-scale evidence shows that cognitive and acceptance-based components are important parts of established psychological approaches to persistent sleep difficulty.
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Guided imagery + mental simulation
Cole et al. (2021). “Synthesizing the Effects of Mental Simulation on Behavior Change: Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-Analysis.” Supporting: Harvey AG, Payne S. “The management of unwanted pre-sleep thoughts in insomnia.” Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2002;40(3):267–277.
Mental-simulation research shows reliable effects on behaviour, while sleep-specific imagery research supports imagery as an alternative focus for unwanted pre-sleep cognitive activity.
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Sleep + memory consolidation
Diekelmann S, Born J. “The memory function of sleep.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2010;11:114–126. Supporting: Brodt S, Inostroza M, Niethard N, Born J. “Sleep — A brain-state serving systems memory consolidation.” Neuron. 2023;111(7):1050–1075.
Foundational and contemporary neuroscience reviews describe sleep as an active period of memory consolidation, replay and reorganisation.
Want to explore the science further?
These are just six examples from the wider body of research behind Ethereal Flow. Explore the evidence, studies and scientific foundations in more detail.
Evidence-led. Transparent. Responsible.
Real science. Real clarity. Real integrity.
Ethereal Flow is built on a genuine commitment to science, transparency and your trust. Here is what that means in practice.
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Built on research
Established mechanisms.
Real evidence.
No pseudo-science.
Real evidence.
No pseudo-science.
Our protocols are informed by established research across sleep science, neuroscience, psychology, cognitive behavioural research, guided imagery, learning and memory.
We use evidence-based methods with a proven track record of supporting changes in thought patterns, emotional regulation and sleep quality.
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Clear about the boundaries
Science-informed.
Non-diagnostic.
No inflated claims.
Non-diagnostic.
No inflated claims.
Ethereal Flow provides personalised sleep protocols for general wellbeing. We do not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent medical conditions, and our content is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
We use research-informed mechanisms to guide how protocols are constructed, but we do not claim that Flow Codex™ itself has been clinically proven as a complete intervention.
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Proprietary by design
We share the principles.
We protect the system.
We protect the system.
We are transparent about the research, methodology and overall approach behind Ethereal Flow.
What we do not publish is the internal interpretation logic, route-selection rules, technique mapping, sequencing framework and scoring system that make up Flow Codex™.
This protected system is what allows us to turn the science into a genuinely personalised experience.
Our commitment
We want you to understand what we have built, why we built it and the evidence behind it — without asking you to take any of it on faith.
Better sleep
A brighter tomorrow
A brighter tomorrow
Ready for a Personalised Sleep Protocol built specifically for you?
You do not need another generic sleep track. You need the right support, in the right order, built for you.
Start with the assessment. Flow Codex™ does the heavy lifting from there.