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Banish your fears while you sleep.
It could be possible.
Here's how.
Hey, this is Annie for D News.
Now, all of us are scared of something, rational or not--
spiders, snakes, flying, needles, heights, clowns,
umbrellas.
OK, that last one might be just me.
But think about it.
They're all pointy, and ugh.
Anyway, according to a new study from Northwestern University,
the secret to overcoming fear could lie in your sleep.
We all know it's important to get a good night's rest.
As we talked about before on the show, getting enough z's
can improve attention span, physical and creative
performance, among many other benefits.
But new research indicates that sleep can also
play a role in eradicating fear.
Here's how it worked.
The research team showed adult subjects
a photo of different faces.
But for two of those, they also received small shocks.
They also smelled a sense for each photo-- clove, lemon,
mint, et cetera.
And they eventually learned to fear
the faces that were associated with the shock,
as measured by sweat levels and neuroimaging.
Then the subjects went to sleep.
And once they were in the deep phase known as slow wave sleep,
they were re-exposed to some of the smells associated
with the pictures and the shocks.
Well, the researchers found that after being exposed
to the smells during sleep, the subjects
had a less fearful response to those
faces that they linked with shock.
The study is based in what's called
exposure therapy for phobias, where you're gradually
exposed to something until you become comfortable with it,
starting with say, a picture of a spider,
then slowly working your way up to actually holding one.
And in this case, the exposure happened
during the phase of sleep that is believed
to play a role in memory consolidation, where
the memories you accumulate throughout the day
are solidified.
Now, granted, the fears in the were engineered, unlike,
for example, that intense fear of clowns
you've had ever since that first grade slumber party,
where you watched It that one time.
But the researchers are hopeful that down the road,
sleep could be used to treat existing phobias or even
conditions like PTSD that deal with traumatic memories--
pretty cool.
So do you have any phobias?
Let us know in the comments.
I already told you my weird umbrella thing,
so now you have to tell me yours.
Till then, thanks for watching D News,
and I'll see you next time.