Sounds synchronized to brain rhythms may improve sleep, memory

Researchers reporting in journal Neuron have found that playing sounds synchronized to the rhythm of the slow brain oscillations of people who are sleeping enhances memory.

Want better sleep? A new study suggests ditching the white-noise machine and tuning into your brain's own rhythms.

The research from the University of Tubingen in Germany suggests that slow sounds tuned into the brain's rhythms during sleep improves not only those rhythms but memory as well.

During deep sleep, the brain's electrical patterns follow a slow oscillating rhythm, the scientists said.

Head researcher Jan Born and colleagues played rhythmic sounds generated to match electrical brain readings of 11 sleepers, playing the sounds of their own brain oscillations to them during deep sleep. "The beauty lies in the simplicity," Born said in a statement.