A headband for dreamers could put an end to recurring nightmares.
A headband could end recurring nightmares
Scientists are convinced that they have taken a step towards ending night terrors by using a headband that recognises when a person is dreaming and can intervene to manipulate emotions.
An early study has shown that it decreased the frequency of bad dreams among those who are badly affected by nightmares by over 90 per cent.
The technique builds on what is known as "imagery rehearsal therapy" (IRT), which is used to treat people with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
It involves sessions where patients are asked to remember a recurrent nightmare while they are awake. They are told to picture the bad dream but to give it a less frightening outcome.
Lampros Perogamvros, a psychiatrist at the Sleep Laboratory of the Geneva University Hospitals and the University of Geneva, said: "We observed a fast decrease of nightmares, together with dreams becoming emotionally more positive.
"For us, researchers and clinicians, these findings are very promising both for the study of emotional processing during sleep and for the development of new therapies."