Scientists Develop Tool To Help Insomniacs

Researchers may have found a way of helping sleep-deprived people by producing an electronic device that stimulates deep-sleep and mimic the full restorative powers of eight-hour period of slumber.

The study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown that by stimulating the brain of sleeping volunteers with harmless magnetic pulses, scientists were able to induce “slow-wave activity” of the brain, just like they do in deep sleep.

“With a single pulse, we were able to induce a wave that looks identical to the waves the brain makes normally during sleep,” said Professor Giulio Tononi from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He explained that about 80 percent of sleeping hours are composed of slow-wave activity. With each burst of magnetism applied in the study, the brain produced the typical slow waves of deep sleep. The importance of slow waves, the professor explained, can be seen when deep-sleep-deprived people are allowed to sleep they produce larger and more numerous slow waves, which become weaker as sleep progresses. Thus, it may be possible, the researchers said, that the magnetic stimulator may stimulate deep-sleep and might also be used to aid the retention of memories.

“The trick is to downscale all the connections by the same percentage so the ones that were stranger are still stronger. That way you don’t lose the memory,” Tononi further explained.