The Effect of Rocking Bed on Mood and Attention

Abstract

Objective: The current study aims to explore the effects of sleep in the rocking bed on mood and attention.Methods: Thirty-nine young adults (14 with insomnia and 25 without insomnia) slept in the Sway Bed under three different conditions; 1) motionless condition, 2) continuously rocking condition, and 3) before-sleep rocking condition. In the motionless condition, participants slept without rocking for all night. In the continuously rocking condition, rocking started when lights out and stopped at wake-up time. In the before-sleep rocking condition, rocking started when lights out, but stopped after sleep onset. The Profile of Mood States and the computerized Comprehensive Attention Test were conducted before and after experimental sleep.Results: Under continuously rocking, depression, tension, anger, fatigue, confusion, and standard deviation of reaction time in divided attention were reduced. Under after-sleep bed condition, depression, tension, fatigue, confusion and omission errors in divided attention were reduced. There were no significant differences in after-sleep mood or attention changes between bed conditions. However, within those with insomnia, after-sleep improvement of depression and divided reduction were larger under continuously rocking conditions than under motionless conditions.Conclusion: Sleeping in the rocking bed improved negative affects and divided attention. The effects of rocking bed on depression and divided attention were prominent especially in those with insomnia. The current findings suggest that the sleep in the rocking bed may improve the depressive mood and the impaired attention of insomnia patients.