In a brand-new study, scientists discovered that playing a noise related to a positive daytime experience through a cordless headband throughout sleep may decrease headache frequency.
For some individuals, problems– those afraid memories that reappear in dreams– can sometimes end up being routine incidents. Some grownups suffer from them numerous times a week, or even every night, for months on end. In therapy, dreamers might be coached to rehearse positive variations of their most frequent headaches. Nevertheless, researchers in Switzerland have taken this an action even more in a study of such patients that was published in the journal Current Biology on October 27. They discovered that likewise playing a noise– one related to a positive daytime experience– through a wireless headband during sleep might decrease nightmare frequency.
” There is a relationship between the kinds of emotions experienced in dreams and our psychological wellness,” states senior author Lampros Perogamvros, a psychiatrist at the Sleep Laboratory of the Geneva University Hospitals and the University of Geneva. “Based on this observation, we had the concept that we could assist individuals by manipulating emotions in their dreams. In this study, we reveal that we can decrease the number of mentally extremely strong and very negative dreams in clients experiencing nightmares.”
They found that likewise playing a noise– one associated with a positive daytime experience– through a cordless headband throughout sleep might lower nightmare frequency.
Persistent headaches are commonly associated with waking up during the night and lower-quality sleep. Half of the group got no additional treatment, while the other half were required to develop an association between a positive version of their nightmare and a noise during an imagination exercise, which they required to practice daily, and wear a headband that might send them the sound throughout REM sleep for 2 weeks. Both groups experienced a reduction in nightmares per week, however the half that received the combination therapy had fewer nightmares post-intervention, as well as 3 months later on.
” We observed a quick decrease of problems, together with dreams ending up being emotionally more favorable.”– Lampros Perogamvros
Up to 4 percent of adults have chronic nightmares at any given minute, according to the findings of epidemiological studies. Persistent nightmares are frequently associated with waking up during the night and lower-quality sleep.
To evaluate whether sound exposure during sleep might improve success, Perogamvros and his associates took a look at 36 patients, all getting imagery rehearsal therapy. Half of the group got no extra treatment, while the other half were required to produce an association between a positive version of their headache and a noise during an imagination exercise, which they needed to practice daily, and wear a headband that could send them the sound during REM sleep for 2 weeks. This is the sleep phase where nightmares primarily take place.
” We were favorably amazed by how well the participants respected and tolerated the study treatments, for example performing imagery rehearsal therapy every day and using the sleep headband during the night,” says Perogamvros. “We observed a fast reduction of nightmares, together with dreams ending up being mentally more favorable. For us, clinicians and scientists, these findings are extremely appealing both for the research study of emotional processing throughout sleep and for the development of brand-new therapies.”
Both groups experienced a decrease in headaches each week, but the half that received the mix treatment had less headaches post-intervention, in addition to 3 months later. They also experienced more joy in their dreams. The outcomes support that such combined treatment should be trialed on larger scales and with different sort of populations to figure out the degree and generalizability of its effectiveness.
Recommendation: “Enhancing images practice session therapy for headaches with targeted memory reactivation” by Sophie Schwartz, Alice Clerget and Lampros Perogamvros, 27 October 2022, Current Biology.DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2022.09.032.
Financial assistance was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the University Hospitals of Geneva.
