New smartphone app to give sweet dreams to users

A smartphone app makes it possible for people to create their perfect dream and so wake up feeling especially happy and refreshed, scientists say.

The app, called 'Dream:ON', monitors a person during sleep and plays a carefully crafted 'soundscape' when they dream.

Each soundscape is carefully designed to evoke a pleasant scenario, such as a walk in the woods, or lying on a beach, and these sounds influence people's dreams.

Hertfordshire University's Professor Richard Wiseman, teamed-up with app developers YUZA to create 'Dream:ON' in 2010.

Wiseman used the app to conduct a two-year study into dream control. The users at the end of a dream had to submit a description of their dream through the app.

The app was downloaded over 500,000 times and the researchers collected millions of dream reports. After studying the data, Wiseman discovered that the soundscapes did indeed influence people's dreams.

"If someone chose the nature landscape then they were more likely to have a dream about greenery and flowers. In contrast, if they selected the beach soundscape then they were more likely to dream about the sun beating down on their skin," Wiseman said.

In addition, the researchers discovered that people's dreams were especially bizarre around the time of a full moon.

"In 2013, neuroscientists from the University of Basel discovered that people experience more disturbed sleeping patterns around the time of a full Moon," said Wiseman.

"We have seen a similar pattern, with more bizarre dreams being associated with a full moon," Wiseman said.

The team also found that certain soundscapes produced far more pleasant dreams.

"Having positive dreams helps people wake-up in a good mood, and boosts their productivity. We have now discovered a way of giving people sweet dreams, and this may also form the basis for a new type of therapy to help those suffering from certain psychological problems, such as depression," said Wiseman.