How Manila’s CEOs Are Sleeping Better, Focusing Sharper, and Skipping the Medication
- Dr. Jan Dipasupil
- Jul 20
- 12 min read
Landing at NAIA at three in the morning. A body that thinks it is still on Dubai time. A mind that has already begun rehearsing Monday. Dr. Jan Dipasupil, medical director of Jan Medical Group, on ExoMind, the technology that has quietly become part of how Manila’s most demanding minds reset.
She landed at NAIA at three in the morning last Sunday, off a Dubai flight that followed a week in Sydney. Her body clock was somewhere over the Indian Ocean. Six meetings on Monday. A board call at seven Tuesday. A pitch on Thursday to Singapore investors flying in that afternoon.
By the time she was in her own bed, her mind had already begun rehearsing everything. She would not fall asleep for two hours. She would wake at 4:30. She would drink better coffee than most people can afford and run on it, again, for another five days.
She had been running on it for years.
She is a founder in her early forties, and she is not depressed. She is not anxious in any clinical sense. Her life is, by every metric that matters to her, working. What she has, instead, is a mind that will not stop, a sleep architecture that has been quietly deteriorating since her thirties, and a background mental noise she has learned to talk over but not turn down.
She came to Jan Medical Group wanting one thing. Clarity. Ideas were piling up faster than she could organise them, for herself and for the business. She had been considering medication and had, characteristically, declined it. She wanted to think more clearly. She wanted to sleep. She wanted the noise to soften.
What she has told us
What she has reported since beginning her ExoMind protocol has been specific enough to record, and honest enough to share here with her permission.
During the sessions themselves, she said she has been able to relax in a way she has not managed to do at home, at a hotel, or on a flight in years. The half-hour in the chair, in the heart of Bonifacio Global City, has become one of the few genuinely uninterrupted stretches in her week. She has described it as a room where her body finally gets to arrive at the same time her mind does.
In the days that have followed each session, she has noticed something quieter. Her sleep has improved. She falls asleep earlier. She stays asleep longer. The 4:30 wake is less frequent than it was.
And then there is the thing she did not go in for, which she noticed only in retrospect. She has been calmer. Situations that used to trigger a sharp reaction — a difficult supplier, an underperforming team member, a delayed flight — have begun to land differently. She still notices them. She simply responds to them, in her words, more slowly, more thoughtfully, less impulsively. The anger she used to feel rising in her chest before she had time to think about it has become something she can hold, examine, and answer with.
She has said, more than once, that she now walks into difficult conversations calmly.
This is not a universal claim about what ExoMind does. It is one Manila founder’s report from inside her own protocol, offered here because it is instructive about what the technology can, in the right client under the right psychiatric oversight, quietly support.
The Manila woman like her has been booking, over the last twelve months, a treatment that most of her peers have not yet heard of. Its name is ExoMind. It is what the future of mental wellness looks like when the future arrives quietly, without fanfare, in a comfortable chair. And when it is used properly, under the eye of a psychiatrist who knows what she is doing, it does something remarkable for the brain that has been running too hard for too long.
What ExoMind actually is
ExoMind is BTL Aesthetics’ next-generation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation device. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS, has been used clinically since the 1980s and has been FDA-cleared for depression in the United States since 2008. It uses gentle magnetic pulses to stimulate specific regions of the brain, most commonly the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is the region involved in mood regulation, cognitive function, focus, and emotional control. The pulses activate neural pathways and, over a course of sessions, encourage neuroplasticity — the brain’s own capacity to build and refine its connections.
The technology is not new. It is well-studied, well-tolerated, and it has helped a great many people. What is new about ExoMind is the device itself. Where traditional TMS protocols required thirty to forty sessions of forty to sixty minutes each, ExoMind delivers a shorter, gentler protocol using a redesigned coil and a trapezoidal pulse waveform that most clients describe as comfortable. Sessions are thirty minutes. The tapping sensation on the scalp is felt, but not painful. No anaesthesia. No downtime.
You return to work the same day. The reset happens quietly, over the course of the protocol, as the brain begins to do again what it used to do naturally.
What ExoMind seems to help with
Any honest article about a technology that engages the brain has to say what it is cleared for and what it is not, in that order.
ExoMind is FDA-cleared in the United States for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).It is also approved by Health Canada and CE-marked in the European Union for depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and excessive eating disorders. These are the on-label uses, and the ones a psychiatrist can recommend without reservation.
Beyond the label, ExoMind has been used clinically for a growing list of related indications supported by emerging evidence: cognitive clarity and executive focus, sleep and insomnia, jet lag recovery, impulse control, general emotional regulation, and what many clients simply call brain fog. These uses are not FDA-cleared. The mechanism — stimulation of the same prefrontal cortex regions involved in executive function and emotional regulation — is the same as the on-label mechanism. The evidence is real but earlier in its curve.
Any responsible clinic offering ExoMind for these off-label uses should be doing three things at once: assessing every candidate under psychiatric care, being honest about what is cleared and what is not, and refusing the client whose actual problem is a mental health condition being treated as a productivity issue. Jan Medical Group does all three.
The business traveller, considered
Return to the founder in the car from NAIA.
Her problem, in psychiatric terms, is not depression. It is a chronically activated brain that has been running elevated cortisol for too many years, a sleep architecture that has stopped consolidating properly, and a working memory that is holding too much every day. The pharmaceutical answer to this — sleep medication, benzodiazepines, low-dose antidepressants prescribed off-label — carries costs she has been unwilling to accept. The lifestyle answer — meditation, less travel, more sleep — is unavailable to her without changing the shape of her life.
ExoMind sits between these two options in a way that most Manila executives have not yet realised is available. The magnetic pulses stimulate the same brain region that is exhausted by chronic executive load. The neuroplasticity response allows the brain to reset the baseline it has been running above. Sleep often improves within the protocol, not because a drug has been introduced, but because the brain has been given a technical assist in returning to its own natural regulation.
The founder who books ExoMind between international trips reports the same thing, in different words. The mental noise softens. Sleep comes earlier and holds longer. The transition through time zones on the next trip is quicker. Monday morning feels like Monday morning, not like the beginning of an ambush.
This is not a treatment for a condition. It is a technical intervention for a brain that has been asked to do more than it was engineered for. Both are legitimate reasons to sit in the chair.
The other conversation
Because ExoMind does two things, it is worth naming the second one plainly.
ExoMind is, first and foremost, FDA-cleared for Major Depressive Disorder. The Manila woman who arrives at the clinic having lived with depression for years, tried antidepressants with partial response and side effects she has been tired of, is another person for whom this technology has been designed. For her, ExoMind is not a wellness tool. It is a treatment. It works on a mechanism entirely different from oral medication, and it can help brains that have not fully responded to the pharmaceutical approach.
Every ExoMind protocol for depression at Jan Medical Group is designed and overseen by the in-house psychiatry team, using validated depression rating scales to track progress session by session. Improvements documented across the ExoMind clients treated for MDD have been meaningful. Not universal, because no treatment is universal. But meaningful.
“For depression, ExoMind is a serious clinical treatment,” Dr. Jan says. “For the executive population, it is a serious cognitive intervention. Both conversations are legitimate. What is not legitimate is confusing one for the other, or offering a psychiatric-grade device without proper psychiatric assessment. That is why we have psychiatrists on staff, and why every ExoMind client is seen by one before the first session.”
What makes the model work at Jan Medical Group
Two things distinguish Jan Medical Group’s ExoMind offering from a device-only clinic.
The first is the in-house psychiatrist. Most Manila aesthetic and wellness clinics do not have a psychiatrist on staff. Jan Medical Group does. Every ExoMind client, whether she arrives with a diagnosis or without one, is assessed by the psychiatrist before the protocol is designed. The psychiatrist confirms that no underlying mental health condition is being missed, that no medication interactions require attention, and that the protocol is appropriate for the specific brain in front of her.
The second is the discipline to keep the two conversations separate. The client with depression is met with clinical care. The executive seeking focus is met with the same clinical care but a different conversation. Neither is sold the language meant for the other.
“A technology can support many things,” Dr. Jan says. “A clinic has to know which thing it is doing, for which client, at which moment. That discipline is what makes a psychiatric-grade treatment safe to offer alongside an aesthetic menu. Without it, you are just adding a device to a room. With it, you are offering care.”
The protocol, in practical terms
A standard ExoMind course is six to eight sessions of thirty minutes each, scheduled two or three times per week over three to four weeks. The exact protocol is customised to the individual by the treating psychiatrist. Maintenance sessions may be recommended in the months that follow, depending on the reason for treatment.
Clients often bring a book, listen to music, or use the thirty minutes as one of the few uninterrupted stretches of their week to simply sit. The chair is comfortable. The room is quiet. Some clients have described the sessions themselves, before any measurable outcome, as one of the calmer half-hours of their week.
The consultation
ExoMind at Jan Medical Group is prescribed and overseen by the in-house psychiatry team, in coordination with Dr. Jan and the physicians of Jan Medical Group. All ExoMind clients, without exception, are assessed clinically before the first session.
For the founder who has been running on caffeine and adrenaline for three years and can feel it finally catching up, this is the appointment. For the CEO whose brain feels like it has thirty tabs open, this is the appointment. For the woman who has been living with depression and would like to try something her prescriptions cannot offer, this is the same appointment, held with the same seriousness by the same psychiatrist.
The device is downstream. The care begins in the consultation room.
ExoMind is available at Jan Medical Group, Park Triangle Mall, Bonifacio Global City. All ExoMind consultations are conducted by the in-house psychiatry team in coordination with Jan Paolo P. Dipasupil, MD, and the physicians of Jan Medical Group. Enquiries: clinic@janmedicalgroup.ph.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or having thoughts of self-harm, please reach out for immediate support. In the Philippines: NCMH Crisis Hotline (1553), Hopeline (0917 558 4673). ExoMind is not a substitute for emergency mental health care.
Quick Reference
ExoMind, briefly
ExoMind is BTL Aesthetics’ next-generation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) device. It uses gentle magnetic pulses to stimulate the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in mood regulation, cognitive function, emotional control, and self-regulation. The technology encourages neuroplasticity — the brain’s own capacity to form new neural connections.
FDA-cleared (United States) for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).CE-marked and Health Canada approved for depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and excessive eating disorders. Additional clinical uses supported by emerging evidence include cognitive clarity, executive focus, sleep, insomnia, jet lag, and impulse control.
Standard protocol: 30-minute sessions, typically 6–8 sessions across 3–4 weeks, customised by the treating psychiatrist. No needles. No anaesthesia. No downtime. Most clients describe the sensation as a rhythmic tapping on the scalp.
At Jan Medical Group, every ExoMind client is assessed and overseen by the in-house psychiatrist, in coordination with Dr. Jan and the physicians of Jan Medical Group.
Frequently asked questions
What is ExoMind? ExoMind is a next-generation Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation device developed by BTL Aesthetics. It delivers gentle magnetic pulses to specific brain regions to encourage neuroplasticity, improve neural connectivity, and support mood and cognitive function. It is a non-pharmaceutical, non-invasive treatment for Major Depressive Disorder and is also used for related mental wellness applications under psychiatric oversight.
Is ExoMind FDA-cleared? Yes. ExoMind is FDA-cleared in the United States for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). It is additionally approved by Health Canada and CE-marked in the European Union for depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and excessive eating disorders. Applications for cognitive clarity, focus, sleep, and impulse control are supported by emerging clinical evidence but are considered off-label under US FDA labelling.
How is ExoMind different from traditional TMS? Both are Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and share the same underlying science. ExoMind is a next-generation platform with a redesigned coil, a trapezoidal pulse waveform designed for greater comfort, shorter session times (30 minutes vs 40–60 minutes for traditional TMS), and typically fewer total sessions required. Most clients describe ExoMind as gentler than older TMS protocols.
Can ExoMind help with jet lag and sleep after long-haul travel? There is emerging clinical evidence that TMS supports sleep quality, insomnia, and jet lag recovery, particularly when these symptoms are related to broader executive load, chronically elevated cortisol, or emotional regulation issues. This use is not FDA-cleared, but the mechanism (stimulation of the same brain regions involved in sleep regulation and executive function) is well-established. Clients being treated for these purposes at Jan Medical Group are assessed by the psychiatrist to confirm that no underlying condition is being missed.
Can ExoMind help me focus at work? For high-functioning adults seeking cognitive clarity and executive focus, ExoMind is an emerging area of clinical use. The mechanism targets the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the same brain region involved in executive function. This is an off-label application in the US and is offered at Jan Medical Group only under psychiatric assessment.
Who is ExoMind for? Two main populations. First, clients living with Major Depressive Disorder, particularly those who have not achieved adequate relief from antidepressant medication alone. Second, high-performing adults seeking cognitive clarity, executive focus, sleep improvement, or improved emotional regulation. Every candidate is assessed by the psychiatrist before a protocol is designed.
Does ExoMind hurt? No. Most clients describe the sensation as a rhythmic tapping on the scalp. No anaesthesia is required. Some clients experience mild scalp tenderness or a short-lived headache after early sessions, which typically resolves as they adjust to the treatment.
How many ExoMind sessions do I need? A standard course is 6–8 sessions of 30 minutes each, delivered 2–3 times per week over 3–4 weeks. The exact protocol is customised by the treating psychiatrist. Clients being treated for depression may also receive maintenance sessions in the months that follow.
Can ExoMind replace my antidepressant medication? This decision belongs to your treating psychiatrist. ExoMind is often used alongside medication rather than as an outright replacement, particularly for clients whose response to medication has been partial. Any change to prescribed medication should be made only under proper psychiatric supervision, never independently.
Does ExoMind help with anxiety? Anxiety is included in ExoMind’s CE-mark and Health Canada approvals. In the United States, TMS carries a specific FDA clearance for anxious depression. Clinical experience and research continue to support the use of ExoMind for anxiety symptoms, and clients seeking treatment for anxiety are assessed by the psychiatrist before a protocol is designed.
Is ExoMind safe? TMS has been used clinically for over 15 years with a strong safety record. Side effects are typically limited to mild scalp discomfort or short-lived headache. ExoMind is not appropriate for clients with certain implanted metal or electronic devices, seizure disorders, or specific neurological conditions. A clinical consultation with the psychiatrist determines candidacy on a case-by-case basis.
Who administers ExoMind at Jan Medical Group? Every ExoMind client at Jan Medical Group is assessed by the in-house psychiatrist, in coordination with Dr. Jan Paolo P. Dipasupil, MD, and the physicians of the clinic. Delivery is by trained clinical staff under psychiatric supervision. This model is the reason the clinic is comfortable offering ExoMind for both mental health treatment and cognitive-wellness applications under one roof.
Where can I get ExoMind in the Philippines? ExoMind is available at Jan Medical Group, Park Triangle Mall, Bonifacio Global City. Consultations are by appointment with the in-house psychiatrist.
About the author
Jan Paolo P. Dipasupil, MD is the medical director of Jan Medical Group, a physician-led medical aesthetics and wellness clinic with flagships in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig and Quezon City. He is Vice President at the Philippine Digital Medicine Society (PDMS). His clinical practice integrates obesity medicine and lifestyle medicine, with a particular focus on the post-weight-loss client on GLP-1 therapy.
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