A GOOD night’s sleep may actually be worse for someone recovering from a traumatic event.

A study by Oxford University, published in the journal Sleep today, found sleep deprivation could stop people forming memories of trauma, reducing their likelihood of having flashbacks.

Scientists at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences tested their hypothesis on 42 Oxford University students.

The students were shown “emotional film clips” in the study, then either sent to sleep or deprived of sleep for a short time.

Dr Kate Porcheret said: “After showing participants a film of scenes with traumatic content as an analogue to trauma, they were either kept in a sleep laboratory and deprived of sleep or sent home to have a normal night’s sleep in their own bed.”

Each person then kept a diary in which they recorded any intrusive memories, however fleeting, recording as much information as possible so that the research team could check that the intrusive images were linked to the film.

Dr Katharina Wulff, from Oxford’s Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute that helped with the study, said: “The sleep-deprived group experienced fewer intrusive memories than those who had been able to sleep normally.

“We know that sleep improves memory performance including emotional memory, but there may be a time when remembering in this way is unhelpful.”

The team stressed that more research was needed.