Want better sleep? A new study suggests getting rid of the white-noise machine and tuning into your brain's own rhythms.
Now, German researchers say they have found a relatively simple way to boost memory formation by playing sounds at certain times during the sleep cycle. Researchers say that playing sounds synchronized to the rhythm of the slow brain oscillations of people who are asleep enhances these oscillations which boosts their memory and improves the quality of their sleep.
The research from the University of Tubingen in Germany suggests that slow sounds tuned into the brain's rhythms during sleep improves not only those rhythms but memory as well.
It has long been known that slow oscillations in brain activity, which occur during so-called slow-wave sleep, are critical for retaining memories.
For the study, German researchers recruited 11 subjects to spend two nights in their sleep lab. During one night, as the participants approached deep sleep, the researchers played sounds that were synchronized to their brain rhythms. As a control, no sounds were played the other night.
"The beauty lies in the simplicity to apply auditory stimulation at low intensities-an approach that is both practical and ethical, if compared for example with electrical stimulation-and therefore portrays a straightforward tool for clinical settings to enhance sleep rhythms," coauthor Dr. Jan Born, of the University of Tubingen, in Germany said.
When the volunteers were exposed to stimulating sounds that were in sync with the brain's slow oscillation rhythm, they were better able to remember word associations they had learned the evening before.
