Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Background Noise While You Sleep Could Be Bad for Your Brain, New Study Suggests

A small study found that quiet random sounds during sleep reduced deep sleep and affected visual-spatial memory after a nap.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

According to research published in iScience by the University of Freiburg in Germany, the things that go bump in the night may not be monsters that want to harm you, but they might harm you all the same as just random, seemingly harmless background noises that aren’t loud enough to wake you might still be enough to disrupt the brain’s memory centers, causing some memories to fade before they’re fully stored.

Right off the bat, just know that it’s a rather small study that only involved 20 healthy young adults who........

© Vice