Sleep disturbances, or nightmares, affect about 4% of adults in the United States.
During a night of terrible sleep, our heart beats faster, we sweat, We wake up frightened and anxious, as a result, we don’t get enough sleep and feel bad during the working day. While some of us have bad dreams several times a year, there are people who, due to trauma, post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, see nightmares almost every night, reports ERT.
Common treatments for this sleep disorder include stress reduction therapy, counseling, or prescription drugs. However, a new method has now been developed and is described in the study. Scientists have proposed an innovative solution that could help in the fight against nightmares: the use of sound waves. “To my knowledge, this is the first clinical and therapeutic study aimed at activating the brain to speed up response to treatment,” said Dr. Lambros Perogambros, psychiatrist and research coordinator at the University of Geneva in Switzerland.
For his part, Dr. Timothy Morgenthaler of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine called the results very promising. “It appears that sound activation during REM (rapid eye movement) enhances the healing effect. The method is perhaps one of the most effective non-drug treatments at the moment. I am excited about this new opportunity,” said Morgenthaler.
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