Many people have nightmares from time to time. For 7 to 10 percent of adults, it is once a month, according to figures from the GGD. Two to three percent have a bad dream once a week or more.
Brake sleep
During the day your fantasies are suppressed, but in REM sleep that does not happen. “Then crazy things can suddenly happen,” explains clinical psychologist and nightmare expert Annette van Schagen. “Also in a negative sense.”
There are ways to counteract nightmares, such as EMDR therapy. “With that you visualize your nightmare during the day, and you give it a different ending. An ending that feels good.” That new ending is linked to the bad dream.
First, a positive version of the nightmare was devised during the day. “While people thought about the new dream, they played the piano sound. The new dream is thus linked to the sound.”
C69
But the C69 piano chord would also offer a solution, according to Swiss research published in the journal Current Biology. “The researchers proceeded in a similar way to EMDR,” says Van Schagen.
The participants then went to sleep with a headband on. The moment they ended up in REM sleep, the piano sound was played through that headband. “In this way you are pushed towards the new dream”, says Van Schagen. “It triggers your brain.”
‘Familiar sound’
The chord gives little musical tension, says music therapist Martina de Witte. “It also doesn’t immediately evoke a new sound, while some other chords can.” Many jazz and blues musicians use the C69 chord.
She continues: “That makes it a well-known sound that we hear a lot in existing compositions. So it is easy on the ear.” This combination makes this chord lend itself as a positive ending to your nightmare.
Such chords are often used in music therapy, explains De Witte. “Scientific research has shown for a long time that music can influence and direct our brain,” she says. “By listening to very pleasant music or music that is outside your comfort zone, you put your thoughts on a different track. You are more concerned with what you hear and what you think and less with what is difficult or difficult.”