‘Sweet dreams’ fight stress and soften bad memories
“Sleep on it.”
When it comes to stressful or painful situations, that advice is worth following.
New research indicates that sleeping — more specifically, dreaming — acts as a “soothing balm” that can serve as overnight therapy, reducing the sting of bad memories.
In the University of California study, published in the journal Current Biology, 35 healthy participants, divided into two groups, viewed a series of 150 emotional images twice, with the viewings 12 hours apart.
One group did the test during the day. The other group viewed the images in the evening, sleeping before their second viewing.
The researchers found that the sleeping group had a less emotional reaction to the images the second time than the non-sleeping participants.
MRI scans “showed a dramatic reduction in activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates emotions and detects potential threats,” NZ Herald News reported. Other tests showed that the reduction in fear was linked to a significant drop in a stress hormone during the REM phase of sleep.
[See also: 6 myths about sleep, busted]
"We know that during REM sleep there is a sharp decrease in levels of norepinephrine, a brain chemical associated with stress,” researcher Matthew Walker said.
Reprocessing emotional experiences as we sleep softens their “emotional stress” Walker added, helping boost our ability to cope with them.
“The dream phase of sleep provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day's emotional experiences."
Study author Els van der Helm said, “During REM sleep, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, but in a state where stress neurochemicals are beneficially suppressed.”
These findings don’t stand alone.
“Rosalind Cartwright, PhD, professor emeritus of psychology at Rush University in Chicago, said that dreaming is almost like having an internal therapist because people get to associate feelings to it, and that it can help people work through their emotions,” the International Business Times reports.
Cartwright found that divorced women who dreamt about their relationships scored better on mood tests in the morning than those who didn’t.
A study out of Australia’s Happily Healthy Project found a correlation between sleep and happiness. (Quick summary: Sleep more.)
Doctors hope that this study will lead to a better understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"In cases of more severe trauma, it may be just too difficult for the patient to process it during sleep, especially if the event has had a significant impact on that person's day to day life,” consultant clinical psychologist Dr. Roderick Orner said.
Do you ever “sleep it off” after an emotional day?
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