Manipulating emotions using non-invasive techniques is It may be possible to reduce the screaming fears that plague our sleep.
In a study involving 36 patients nightmare disorder A combination of two simple treatments has been shown to reduce the frequency of bad dreams.
Scientists asked volunteers to rewrite their most frequent nightmares in a positive light, then played sounds associated with the positive experience while they slept.
“There is a relationship between the types of emotions we experience in dreams and our emotional well-being.” Psychiatrist Lampros Perogamvros Researchers from Geneva University Hospital and the University of Geneva in Switzerland explained the results when they were published in 2022.
“Based on these observations, we got the idea that we could help people by manipulating their emotions in their dreams. In this study, we showed that we could reduce the number of very emotionally strong and very negative dreams in patients suffering from nightmares. showed.”
Many people suffer from nightmares. Nightmares aren’t just a few bad dreams. Nightmares are also linked to poor sleep quality, which in turn is linked to numerous other health problems.
poor sleep Anxiety can also increaseAs a result, the following results may occur: insomnia and nightmares. According to a recent study Those nightmares and sleep problems showed an upward trend During the ongoing global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Considering we don’t really understand whyor even howTreating chronic nightmares can be challenging because our brains dream while we sleep.
One of the non-invasive methods is: Image Rehearsal TherapyPatients rewrite their most horrific and frequent nightmares to give them a happy ending. They then “practice” the rewritten story to themselves in an attempt to overwrite the nightmare.
This method Reduce frequency and severity Although people have nightmares, treatment is not effective for all patients.
In 2010, scientists discovered that people play sounds that they have trained to associate with specific stimuli while they sleep. AIDS to strengthening the memory of that stimulus. This name was given Reactivate target memory (TMR), Perogamvros and colleagues wanted to find out whether it could improve the effectiveness of imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT).
After having study participants keep dream and sleep diaries for two weeks, all volunteers were given a single IRT session. At this point, half the group went through a TMR session to create an association between the sound and a positive version of the nightmare.
The other half served as a control group, not exposed to positive sounds and imagining a less terrifying version of the nightmare.
Both groups received sleep headphone headbands that played a sound (piano code C69) every 10 seconds during REM sleep, when nightmares are most likely to occur during sleep.
teathe groupAfter two additional weeks of journaling, and again after three months without any type of treatment.
At the start of the study, the control group had an average of 2.58 nightmares per week, while the TMR group had an average of 2.94 nightmares per week. By the end of the study, the control group had reduced their nightmares to 1.02 per week, while the TMR group had reduced them to just 0.19. Even more promising, the TMR group reported an increase in happy dreams.
At 3-month follow-up, nightmares increased slightly in both groups, to 1.48 and 0.33 per week, respectively. However, this is still an impressive reduction in nightmare frequency, the researchers say, and suggests that using TMR to support IRT may lead to more effective treatment.
“We were positively surprised by how well the participants respected and tolerated the study procedures, including performing daily imagery rehearsal therapy and wearing a sleep headband at night.” Ferrogambros said..
“We observed a rapid decline in nightmares and dreams becoming more emotionally positive. For our researchers and clinicians, these findings are very promising for both the study of emotional processing during sleep and the development of new treatments.”
The team’s research was published as: current biology.
A previous version of this article was published in October 2022.
