Plagued by bad memories? Study shows sleep and positive memories can weaken them

Negative memories are easily triggered and hard to forget, often resurfacing unexpectedly. Sleep and positive memories can help decrease the remembrance.

The recollection of memories is so vivid that every remembrance feels like reliving those moments. This is particularly true for negative memories, which are bitter and emotionally burdensome. A certain word or image can trigger negative memories. The clarity of these memories makes it seem as if you are going through them all over again. Occasionally, there are wishful contemplation of erasing these troubling memories as a way to end the pain of the disturbing experience. Well if not delete, it is possible to weaken negative memories.

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed the possibility of weakening negative memories with the help of sleep. Let’s see how the study is relying on sleep to dull the negative memories’ intensity.

Power of sleep

Sleep helps alleviate the emotional burden of negative memories by requiring no conscious effort. (Shutterstock)

The researchers aimed to diminish the negative memories by activating positive memories during sleep. It can help reduce the distress of traumatic memories. The researchers called it ‘targeted memory reactivation’. This opens up avenues for treatments concerning traumatic experiences.

The researchers leveraged the power of sleep to target negative memories. It is a known fact that sleep has a fundamental role in processing memories. Sleep is beneficial as it won’t require the conscious emotional effort like the traditional methods (therapy.) This involves the person consciously facing negative memories as they try to reduce their intensity in therapy. Many people struggle with this, which impacts their physical and mental wellbeing.

In contrast, sleep-based techniques provide a gentler, more passive approach. There is no need for conscious recollection.

Replacing with positive memories

The study examined 37 participants. In the experiments, the participants learned to associate certain words with negative images to create negative memories. Later, some of those words were paired with positive images to create ‘interfering’ positive memories.

During sleep, researchers played the audio of these words softly while participants were in the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep phase. This is important for processing memories. The reactivation of memories during sleep helped reduce the strength of the negative ones.

Triggering positive memories during sleep significantly reduced the recall of negative ones. When the same word was linked to both positive and negative images, people remembered the positive ones more. This shows that introducing positive memories can weaken the intensity of negative recollections.

Sleep naturally plays a key role in organizing and storing memories. By targeting the brain during a specific sleep phase, researchers could subtly influence how memories were processed, reducing the emotional impact of negative memories without requiring conscious effort.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.