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In Macbeth Shakespeare wrote that sleep ...knits up the raveled sleep of care.
在莎翁名劇《麥克白》中，莎士比亞曾這樣評價睡眠:把憂慮的亂絲編織起來。
So why would anyone want to be purposely reminded of a fearful memory while sleeping?
那么為什么有人還想在睡覺的過程中刻意回憶起一段可怕的記憶呢？
Strange as it may seem,
聽起來感覺很詭異，
recent research shows that reminders of a scary memory while snoozing may help treat phobias.
然而最近的研究表明在打瞌睡的時候夢到噩夢也許能有助于治療恐懼癥。
Scientists showed volunteers two faces while the volunteers received mild electric shocks.
科學家們給參與實驗在被微電流刺激著的志愿者們展現兩張人臉。
As they viewed a face, the subjects also smelled a specific odor, like clove, mint or lemon.
在看到一張臉的時候，志愿者還能聞到如丁香、薄荷或者檸檬等特別的氣味。
So both the face and the odor were associated with the unpleasant experience of being shocked.
所以，人臉和氣味都同時與正在接受的電刺激這件不愉快的經歷有了感覺意識上的聯系。
Later, when subjects were in deep sleep they were exposed to one of the odors.
之后，當志愿者們進入深度睡眠，他們又會被其中一種氣味所圍繞。
When they woke up, they viewed images of the two faces.
醒來后，他們會再次觀看那兩張人臉圖像。
And their fear reaction to the face associated with the smell was lower than when they saw the other face.
而他們對伴隨氣味而看到過的那張人臉的恐懼感明顯低于看到另一張臉時產生的。
Fear was quantified via brain scans and sweat measurement.
因此得出結論恐懼感可以通過腦部掃描和汗液成分來量化分析。
The study is the journal Nature Neuroscience.
該研究已在《自然雜志的神經科學》上發表。
It's known that people can overcome phobias by exposure to the feared object or behavior while awake.
已知的人們克服恐懼癥的有效方法是在清醒狀態下利用他們恐懼物質或者行為對他們進行持續刺激。
This study marks the first time scientists have tried exposure—albeit through a conditioned response—during sleep to reduce fear.
這項研究是科學家們的第一次嘗試—盡管是通過一種條件限制下的反映—也就是在睡覺的時候嘗試消除恐懼感的刺激。
For phobic people, it could be a dream come true.
對恐懼癥患者來講，好像你的夢境變為現實。
