Swiss scientists have just come up with a new technique that allows you to manipulate your emotions while you sleep using sound.
, the study’s authors developed a method where a sound associated with a good daytime feeling is played through a wearable headband. As you sleep, the sound plays through your ears and triggers peaceful dreams.
It’s not as easy as just loading up a playlist of your favorite music for your nighttime slumber, however. This method is partnered with imagery rehearsal therapy, a process in which patients reimagine common nightmares to have a more positive outcome. Say you often dream that you show up to your high school unprepared for a test. You might rewrite that narrative to make sure that you ace it every time.
As the patients slept, the headband would also measure electrical signals in the brain, allowing it to start playing the sound during REM sleep—the point when most nightmares happen. It should be noted that the sample size for the study was relatively small and recruited in Switzerland. The study’s authors recommend building off of this research with more participants to see if it can work better at scale. However, the results are very promising.