Sleep may not be right way to deal with trauma

Escaping into sleep may not be the right way of dealing with a traumatic experience, a study suggests.

On the contrary, a period of sleep deprivation may act as a barrier to consolidating bad memories and reduce disturbing flashbacks.

Study participants were shown a film containing traumatic scenes before either being prevented from sleeping or having a normal night’s sleep at home.

Dr Kate Porcheret, Oxford Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, said: “We wanted to see what effect sleep deprivation would have on the development of intrusive memories — what in a clinical setting are called flashbacks.”

Team member Dr Katharina Wulff said: “The sleep- deprived group experienced fewer intrusive memories than those who had been able to sleep normally.

“Both groups experienced more of these involuntary memories in the first two days and a reducing number in the following days. We know that sleep improves memory performance including emotional memory, but there may be a time when remembering in this way is unhelpful.”

The scientists said further work is needed as flashbacks are still not well understood and real-life trauma cannot be replicated in a lab. The findings were reported in the journal Sleep.