Sound Exposure During Sleep Might Ease Nightmares

Healthcare Sound Exposure During Sleep Might Ease Nightmares Anuradha Varanasi Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Anuradha writes about environmental health disparities & epidemiology Following New! Follow this author to stay notified about their latest stories. Got it! Oct 27, 2022, 03:25pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin 22nd December 1962: Bart, a young Boston Terrier, asleep in his owner’s bed, after spending six .

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Bart was brought into the country from Canada by RSPCA officer, Mr Whitaker. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) Getty Images Scientists estimate that at least 4% of adults suffer from chronic nightmares that disrupt sleep and significantly impact mental and emotional well-being in the long run. In a new study published in the journal Current Biolog y , researchers based in Switzerland made a potential breakthrough that might help in reducing the frequency of nightmares.

A form of therapy called imagery rehearsal therapy involves coaching individuals to repeatedly speak about positive versions of their most frequent nightmares. However, researchers have found that method might not always be effective. The team of scientists decided to implement an effective strategy that can make imagery rehearsal therapy far more effective — by playing a sound during sleep that is associated with positive daytime experiences through a wireless headband.

“We had the idea that we could help people by manipulating emotions in their dreams. In this study, we show that we can reduce the number of emotionally very strong and very negative dreams in patients suffering from nightmares,” said author Lampros Perogamvros, a psychiatrist at the University of Geneva, in a press release. Perogamvros and colleagues included 36 participants in their study who were undergoing imagery rehearsal therapy.

One half of the group did not receive any other form of treatment for their frequent nightmares. Whereas the other half were given imagination exercises to make an association between a positive version of their nightmare and a sound of their choice. The exercise had to be practised daily along with a wireless headband that could send the sound to the participant exactly when they drifted into REM sleep — the stage of sleep when nightmares tend to occur — for two weeks.

The group that received the headband experienced fewer nightmares even three months after their exercises ended. As compared to the group that only underwent therapy, they also reported experiencing some joy while dreaming in their sleep. MORE FOR YOU Meet The Unknown Immigrant Billionaire Betting Her Fortune To Take On Musk In Space The 9 Best Juicers To Upgrade From Store-Bought To Freshly Made Juice Nevada Exceeds $1 Billion In Gaming Revenue For 19 Straight Months “We observed a fast decrease of nightmares, together with dreams becoming emotionally more positive.

For us, researchers and clinicians, these findings are very promising both for the study of emotional processing during sleep and for the development of new therapies,” Perogamvros added in the press release. Follow me on Twitter . Anuradha Varanasi Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.