Shortly after the Portland Trail Blazers step off the court following practice or a game, they’re whisked into a “brain room,” where they watch DVDs with devices strapped to their heads that read the electrical activity in their brains. It’s a scene that might seem peeled from a 1980’s sci-fi movie.
This season, the Trail Blazers teamed up with a company called Neurocore Pro that seeks to improve players’ health, focus and recovery through brain training. The device, which is about the size of a pair of Beats headphones, is designed to accelerate recovery by improving athletes’ deep, restorative sleep, which Neurocore believes leads training and performance at peak capacity.