Study: Rock Yourself To Sleep In An Adult Cradle For Better Rest

(CNN) — Insomniacs may need to return to their earliest remedies for a good night’s sleep: A bed that gently rocks like a cradle helped a small group of adults sleep better and longer, a study published Thursday in Current Biology found. Add to that, a night tucked into the adult-cradle also improved their memories. “Compared to a night spent on a stationary bed, our subjects fell asleep faster and spent more time in deep sleep,” Laurence Bayer, senior author of the study and a senior researcher and biologist at the University of Geneva, wrote in an email. Less time falling asleep, more time spent in deep sleep Eighteen participants in their 20s slept one night on a motionless bed and another night on an identical, though gently rocking, bed. The full-size rocking bed, which rests on a platform suspended within a metal frame, is connected to a motor. The motor produces a sideways movement spanning 10.5 centimeters (a little more than 4 inches), with a complete back and forth motion made every four seconds. Though the motor is quiet, the researchers switched it on both nights so that participants could experience an equal amount of environmental noise each time. Throughout the night, soundless machines measured the electrical activity in their brains, hearts and muscles and monitored their breathing and eye movements. Before bedtime, participants performed a memory test. They repeated the same test in the morning while answering a sleep quality question...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Offbeat CNN Local TV Sleep Source Type: news