<p>The findings offer a compelling explanation for why people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as war veterans, have a hard time recovering from painful experiences and suffer recurring nightmares.<br /><br />"The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day's emotional experiences," said Matthew Walker.<br /><br />Walker is an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, and study co-author, the journal Current Biology reports.<br /><br />For people with PTSD, Walker said, this overnight therapy may not be working effectively, so when a "flashback is triggered by, say, a car backfiring, they relive the whole visceral experience once again because the emotion has not been properly stripped away from the memory during sleep".<br /><br />The results offer some of the first insights into the emotional REM sleep, which typically takes up 20 percent of a healthy human's sleeping hours, according to a Berkeley statement. <br /><br />"During REM sleep, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, but in a state where stress neurochemicals are beneficially suppressed," said Els van der Helm, doctoral student in psychology at Berkeley. He led the study.</p>
<p>The findings offer a compelling explanation for why people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as war veterans, have a hard time recovering from painful experiences and suffer recurring nightmares.<br /><br />"The dream stage of sleep, based on its unique neurochemical composition, provides us with a form of overnight therapy, a soothing balm that removes the sharp edges from the prior day's emotional experiences," said Matthew Walker.<br /><br />Walker is an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at University of California, Berkeley, and study co-author, the journal Current Biology reports.<br /><br />For people with PTSD, Walker said, this overnight therapy may not be working effectively, so when a "flashback is triggered by, say, a car backfiring, they relive the whole visceral experience once again because the emotion has not been properly stripped away from the memory during sleep".<br /><br />The results offer some of the first insights into the emotional REM sleep, which typically takes up 20 percent of a healthy human's sleeping hours, according to a Berkeley statement. <br /><br />"During REM sleep, memories are being reactivated, put in perspective and connected and integrated, but in a state where stress neurochemicals are beneficially suppressed," said Els van der Helm, doctoral student in psychology at Berkeley. He led the study.</p>