We are increasingly exposed to screens in our daily lives. The latter are also often singled out for their detrimental role in our sleep. However, far from preconceived ideas, virtual reality headsets can help you (re)find better sleep. We'll explain it to you.
Virtual reality against sleep disorders.
In an INSV/MGEN study , conducted in 2015, a third of French people said they suffered from sleep disorders . The same study shows, moreover, that 73% of us wake up at least once a night for around 30 minutes, or that 25% of 25-34 year olds sleep during the day.
It is in this context that virtual reality can play a role in improving our sleep . For example, the virtual reality headset , which treats insomnia . In fact, by positioning the headset over your eyes, it collects data concerning your pulse and breathing . From this data, the headset sends back light and sound stimuli . As your brain responds, the stimuli adapt until you fall asleep .
Researcher Massimiliano de Zambotti, a sleep neuroscientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, California, works on adolescents' bedtimes . By combining virtual reality and breathing techniques , before going to bed, the researcher showed that the use of virtual reality made it possible to increase drowsiness and reduce the level of alertness at bedtime . These preliminary studies dating from 2020 have shown great promise in combating the fear of going to bed, linked to insomnia.
Finally, another application of virtual reality , to help treat your sleep disorders , involves rocking yourself . Indeed, a team of researchers from RMIT in Melbourne have created a virtual reality headset , in collaboration with artists. The device combines ambient music with kaleidoscopic images controlled by your brain, using an electroencephalogram. Depending on the waves received, the music and images change. As a result, this animation allows you to doze off.
Virtual reality to sleep better in the future.
Start-ups are launching with the objective of helping you recover the benefit of a night's sleep, in twenty minutes , thanks to virtual reality ! Research which, if successful, would open up new fields of possibilities in the treatment of sleep disorders.
Source: Photo by James Yarema on Unsplash
What dream on the program tonight?
Finally, who has never wanted to be able to control their dreams ? Your wish may be about to come true thanks to the work carried out by the teams at the Dream and Nightmare Laboratory at the Sacré-Cœur Hospital in Montreal .
The researchers managed to cause dreams among people participating in the experience. First, they are given a flight simulation , thanks to a virtual reality headset . The goal being that their brain can then recreate this experience during the dream . In a separate room, on a screen, the researchers inspect the activity of the brain, in order to wake up the person at the right time and recover their dream experience . The purpose of this experience is to see if it is possible to provoke a particular dream and to see how the dream that we want to provoke is then reformed, by our brain during sleep.
Today, virtual reality has become an essential tool in the treatment of many disorders linked to the activity of our brain . Sleep disorders are also part of this. Although the applications are still in their early stages, the results appear promising . The world of sleep, so difficult for us to understand, has perhaps found its key to decoding it: virtual reality .
