Sleep is essential for our well-being. We have heard it a thousand times, but it is not until after a sleepless night – or several – that we are fully aware of the importance of that restful night’s rest. And our mood will be the first to pay the bill.
The double effect of lack of sleep: Losing joy and becoming irritable
If after a bad night’s sleep you feel emotionally anesthetized and it is not just due to tiredness. The largest study to date on the impact of sleep on mood revealed that positive emotions take the brunt of it.
After analyzing more than 5,700 people, researchers found that a bad night’s sleep made them feel less happy, excited or cheerful. Even sleeping one or two hours less than usual generated a kind of emotional dullness. In practice, sleep loss limits our ability to feel pleasure, thereby erasing much of the positive emotions from our day .
However, its effects do not end there. Sleep deprivation can also make us more likely to experience negative emotions . Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who sleep just 4.5 hours a night throughout the week have higher levels of stress, sadness, anger, irritability and mental exhaustion.
As if that were not enough, sleep deprivation affects our ability to manage emotions. In other words, if we don’t sleep well we will have difficulties regulating our impulses and it will be difficult for us to compensate for negative emotions with a more positive attitude.
Therefore, it is not strange that chronic sleep problems end up triggering mood disorders, such as depression or anxiety. Research carried out at the University of Oslo with more than 25,000 people revealed that those who suffer from insomnia are 5 times more likely to develop depression and 20 times more likely to suffer from an anxiety disorder.
The mark that lack of sleep leaves on the brain
Neuroscience has proven that the old advice of consulting your problems with your pillow is valid. A study published in the journal Science found that our brain reviews emotions during sleep to consolidate the storage of positive ones and cushion the impact of negative ones .
Rapid eye movements (REM) play an essential role in this process, so it is no coincidence that it has also been observed that we react worse to emotional experiences after the loss of REM sleep, compared to the impact of slow wave sleep.
Lack of sleep affects neural circuits related to rewards and positive experiences , which explains why we lose the ability to be happy, excited, or feel good the next day.
At the same time, it intensifies the reaction of areas of the brain related to negative emotional experiences , such as the amygdala, while its connections with the prefrontal cortex deteriorate, which is precisely the area that helps us keep our emotional reactions under control. For this reason we react worse and have a hard time controlling our behavior, feeling moody and irritable.
The good news? When we manage to sleep well, our mood improves greatly.
The keys to achieving a restful sleep
Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes and REM phases represent approximately 25% of it, so most adults need seven to eight hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep to rest. To achieve this, it is important that you take care of all the details of sleep hygiene, from environmental to psychological factors.
- Turn your bedroom into a place that promotes sleep
First of all: achieving a restful sleep becomes an impossible mission if you are hot, feel uncomfortable, or the light floods your room, preventing your brain from producing the melatonin necessary to fall into the arms of Morpheus. Therefore, make sure the environment in your room is conducive to sleep.
Make sure the temperature is comfortable (between 18 and 21°C), minimize outside noise and try to keep the room dark . Obviously, don’t neglect the mattress and pillow. In this sense, “You must understand that each type of mattress corresponds to a specific need ,”.
For example, “If you tend to feel hot at night, it is better to use a foam mattress, which, with its thermosensitive viscoelastic layer, will regulate your body temperature and prevent you from sweating during sleep”. And the same goes for the pillow. In addition to choosing the appropriate height according to the position you adopt when sleeping, ergonomic models also allow you to “Relieve pressure points to facilitate falling asleep and help with a more continuous and lasting rest.”
There are even anti-stress pillows that release cervical tension, absorb static electricity and are so soft that they give the sensation that your head is resting on a cloud, thus promoting a feeling of calm that facilitates sleep.
Not forgetting weighted blankets, which are already being used to relieve insomnia and anxiety due to their ability to increase the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone, by up to 32%, just one hour after going to bed, according to a study carried out at Uppsala University.
- Set a relaxing ritual and follow it
If your brain is overexcited before going to bed, it will be difficult for you to fall asleep. In general, you should avoid exposing yourself to blue light from screens and stimulating activities, such as staying up late or training late at night, because they will cause your body to secrete cortisol, the stress hormone that generates a state of alertness.
Instead, it is recommended to follow a relaxing routine that facilitates the transition from wakefulness to sleep. You can take a relaxing bath with hot water, for example, since it has been shown that the increase and subsequent decrease in body temperature promotes drowsiness.
You can also read, listen to pleasant music or do exercises to relax your mind. And, of course, avoid taking your problems to bed because they will prevent you from falling asleep.
In addition, it is convenient that you establish a time to get up and go to bed since that way you will synchronize your “internal clock.” When you stick to a routine, you create a habit that your body will get used to, making it easier to fall asleep.
In short, good sleep hygiene will not only allow you to wake up revitalized and energized, but will also help you maintain a more positive attitude in the face of everyday challenges. Giving sleep the importance it deserves means investing in your mental health and emotional well-being.
References:
Palmer, C. A. et. Al. (2023) Sleep Loss and Emotion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Over 50 Years of Experimental Research. Psychological Bulletin; 10.1037.
Meth, E. M. et. Al. (2023) A weighted blanket increases pre-sleep salivary concentrations of melatonin in young, healthy adults. J Sleep Res; 32(2): e13743.
Aime, M. et. Al. (2022) Paradoxical somatodendritic decoupling supports cortical plasticity during REM sleep. Science; 376 (6594): 724.
Tomaso, C. C. et. Al. (2021) The effect of sleep deprivation and restriction on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation: three meta-analyses in one. Sleep; 44(6): zsaa289.
Saghir, Z. et. Al. (2018) The Amygdala, Sleep Debt, Sleep Deprivation, and the Emotion of Anger: A Possible Connection? Cureus; 10(7): e2912.
Tempesta, D. et. Al. (2018) Sleep and emotional processing. Sleep Med Rev; 40:183-195.
Neckelmann, D. et al. (2007) Chronic Insomnia as a Risk Factor for Developing Anxiety and Depression, Sleep; 30 (7): 873-880.
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