Thegentle movement of the hammocks helps us fall asleep fasterand to achieve greater depth of sleep than a bed, according to a study carried out by the University of Geneva (Switzerland). “From time immemorial we have rocked children to sleep, and we fall asleep irresistibly in a rocking chair,” explains Sophie Schwartz, who assures that until now a neuroscientific explanation for this phenomenon had not been found.
In his research, published in the journalCell Biology, Schwartz and his colleagues invited a dozen healthy adult volunteers to take a 45-minute nap in a “classic” bed, and another nap in a moving bed. During each period of sleep, they measured their brain activity using an encephalogram (EEG). And they observed that in all cases there was a significant difference in brain waves. Specifically,sleeping with the rocking of a hammock increases the slow oscillations and the axes or spindles of sleep, which serve as a transition between light and deep sleep. Both records are associated with deep sleep and greater memory consolidation. In addition, individuals who generate more sleep spindles are able to tolerate noise better while sleeping.
During rest with a movement of the bed, the duration of the N2 phase of sleep was also increased, a type of non-rapid eye movement that occurs in the middle of a restful night’s sleep. In addition, more than half of the participants expressed that the hammock-type bed and the nap had been more pleasant.
Now it remains to find out if hammock sleep could help treat sleep disorders such as insomnia.
