Insomnia cure at the push of a button
There are few things as frustrating as not being able to fall asleep.
Insomnia affects almost everyone at some stage and exacts a high toll on society in lost productivity and lowered moods.
Now science appears to be on the verge of a chemical-free remedy for sleeplessness, using magnetism to send people to sleep.
Researchers at an American University used weak magnetic pulses to stimulate the brains of volunteers and found they were able to trigger the type of brain waves normally found during the deepest sleep.
They now hope to adapt the technology to create devices which would cure people's insomnia at the push of a button.
Machines capable of reducing the amount of time needed for people to receive a refereshing sleep are also a possibility.
However, the work has been met with caution by leading Australian sleep scientists who believe far more research is needed to establish whether test subjects are enjoying the full benefits of deep sleep.
Giulio Tononi, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health conducted the magnet study, which was recently published in a peer reviewed journal.
The work centred on inducing slow wave sleep, which is thought to be linked to the restoration of good mood and our ability to learn, think and remember.
Scientists often divide the time we spend sleeping into REM sleep when rapid eye movement can be seen and dreaming occurs and non-REM sleep.
Stage one of non-REM sleep is regarded as the gateway to sleep where conscious awareness of the world around the sleeper declines.
Stage two occupies about half of the total time spent sleeping and is characterised by awareness of the outside world disappearing.
In stage three delta waves associated with deep sleep appear. This is followed by stage four, the deepest level of sleep. Slow wave sleep is associated with stages three and four.
Participants in Tononi's study were allowed to fall asleep and then subjected to transcranial magnetic stimulation, a process which sends a magnetic pulse through the skull.
Test subjects began immediately producing slow waves typical of 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,'' the professor said in a statement.
Tononi's team said it was possible the research could be used to create a device that would trigger slow waves in the brains of those having trouble going to sleep, helping with their insomnia.
It may also be possible to reduce the time taken to reach slow wave sleep, meaning short naps could eventually be almost as restorative as long sleeps.
But Professor Drew Dawson, director of the Centre for Sleep Research at the University of South Australia said more work was needed.
He was not convinced inducing slow wave brain activity in people automatically meant they received all the benefits of deep sleep.
Are we on the verge of eliminating insomnia?
Would you use this technology to help you sleep?
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http://blogs.smh.com.au/science/archives/2007/05/insomnia_cure_at_the_push_of_a.htmlI would like to try it if it is safe