When sleep is nowhere around, with agonising tossing and turning, the mind can only buzz with racing thoughts, sending insomnia-affected people down a spiral of overthinking. Be it counting sheep or mulling over better comebacks for a disagreement five years ago, in the absence of sleep, the thoughts are unstoppable and extremely overwhelming. But there’s a breakthrough in insomnia research. A study from the University of Arizona formulated a device that can revolutionise the treatments of sleep disorders. It targets the problem of mental noise when people are unable to sleep.

Reason for the overwhelming thoughts

Many people become restless and feel overwhelmed with the increased amounts of thoughts in the absence of sleep. It further keeps them awake. The reason behind this is a brain network called the default mode network (DMN). During periods of rest, this brain network becomes hyperactive, generating a never-ending stream of continuous thoughts, worries, and musings, making it incredibly challenging to fall asleep.

What is the device?

Dr William “Scott” Killgore and his team developed a handheld device that temporarily disrupts the overactive brain network by transmitting magnetic pulses in those regions. Within 40 seconds, the machine releases the magnetic pulses and hushes down all the noise in the brain effectively. This device uses a technique called ‘continuous theta burst stimulation’ to disrupt the overactive DMN. Initial experimentations already showed promising results. The team will now embark on a three-year-long study of this device on people suffering from chronic insomnia to test the efficiency of the device more thoroughly.

The research’s initial focus was catered to military personnel as a wide majority struggled with insomnia, but this device opened the doors of treatment with the help of non-drug-based intervention.

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