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Shock yourself out of the blues

A device that emits a mild shock to your forehead nerves during sleep could help cure blues.

Updated on: Oct 13, 2010, 01:06:44 IST
IANS | By , London
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A device that emits a mild shock to your forehead nerves during sleep could help cure blues.

HT Image
HT Image

The mobile phone-sized gadget is wired up to two electrodes that are stuck to the forehead at bedtime. The current generated is so mild that sleep is rarely disturbed.

Throughout the night, the device then transmits weak electrical currents through the electrodes and into a nerve running just beneath the skin above the eyes.

Called the trigeminal nerve, it extends deep into the brain and experiments show applying a mild charge can have powerful healing effects, reports the Daily Mail.

The technique of trigeminal nerve, stimulation is already used to ease facial pain in patients affected by neuralgia. But research by experts at the University of California in Los Angeles suggests stimulating nerves in the forehead could help thousands more people affected by depression.

After the experiment, patients reported 70 per cent reduction in their symptoms, including better moods, more energy, sharper memory and no suicidal thoughts.

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