Seeing the glass half full or half empty depends not only on whether your character is more or less optimistic, but also on how well (or poorly) you slept the night before. Poor quality sleep not only makes us feel more tired and with less energy, but it can also negatively influence our emotions and increase the likelihood that we will experience symptoms of anxiety, according to the findings of a study conducted by researchers from the University of East Anglia.
“We live in a society that frequently suffers from sleep deprivation, so it is crucial to understand the effects of this on our emotions to promote good psychological health,” said Dr. Jo Bower of the University of East Anglia and lead author of the study. study, which represents the most comprehensive analysis to date of experimental sleep and emotion research.
The work has been published in Psychological Bulletin by the American Psychological Association and summarizes more than 50 years of research on sleep deprivation and mood. Their results provide compelling evidence that sleeping less, staying awake longer, and waking up during the night can negatively influence human emotional functioning.
Sleep loss reduced response to emotional stimuli
Dr. Bower and her colleagues, including the other lead author, Dr. Cara Palmer of Montana State University, reviewed data from 154 studies conducted over five decades, involving a total of 5,715 participants. In them, the sleep of these individuals was interrupted for one or more nights. In some experiments, participants were kept awake for long periods, in others they were allowed to sleep less than usual, and in others they were awakened periodically during the night.
Each study also assessed at least one emotion-related variable after the sleep manipulation, such as participants’ self-reported mood, their response to emotional stimuli, and measures of depression and anxiety symptoms.
The researchers found that all three types of sleep loss led to a decrease in positive emotions such as joy, happiness and satisfaction among participants, as well as an increase in anxiety symptoms, such as a rapid heart rate and increased worry.
“Even small amounts of sleep loss, such as staying awake an extra hour or two, had an impact on our emotional functioning,” Dr. Bower said. “We also found that sleep loss increased anxiety symptoms and reduced the arousal response to emotional stimuli.”
Findings related to symptoms of depression were smaller and less consistent. The results were also more varied for negative emotions such as sadness, worry and stress. One limitation of the study is that most of the participants were young adults, with an average age of 23, so the researchers suggest that future studies include a more diverse age sample to better understand how sleep deprivation affects to people of different ages.
“Even small amounts of sleep loss, such as staying awake an extra hour or two, had an impact on our emotional functioning.”
Dr. Bower proposes that “it would also be interesting to examine how emotional functioning recovers after sleep is restored.” Other directions for future research could include examining the effects of multiple nights of sleep loss, examining individual differences to discover why some people may be more vulnerable than others to the effects of sleep loss, and examining the effects of sleep loss. of sleep in different cultures, since most of the current research was carried out in the United States and Europe.
“Recent research globally has shown that only 15% of adults get the recommended amount of sleep for at least five nights a week. “This has considerable implications for individual and public health research, including in sectors prone to sleep loss,” concludes Dr. Bower.
