Studies show that sleep-deprived people report an increase in negative moods (anger, frustration, irritability, sadness) and a decrease in positive moods. And insomnia is often a symptom of mood disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Many of us know that we feel better after “a good night's sleep” and more grumpy or confused if we don't sleep well. And now there's strong evidence that similarly supports that sleep is critical not only to our physical health but also to our mental health.
Poor or insufficient sleep has been found to increase negative emotional responses to stressors and decrease positive emotions. Mental health conditions can disrupt sleep, and lack of sleep can affect mental health. This multifaceted relationship creates complex connections between sleep and psychiatric disorders, but it also means that treating both problems can go hand in hand. Measures to improve sleep may even be part of a preventive mental health strategy.
Sleep disorders are more common among the mentally ill. Sleep deprivation can worsen mental illness and make it difficult to manage symptoms. Treating sleep disorders is very likely to alleviate the symptoms of mental health disorders. People with mental health disorders tend to spend time in lighter, less restorative stages of sleep than in deep REM sleep, which is critical to health and healing.
It's particularly important to understand the relationship between lack of sleep and mental illness, because it has the potential to become very dangerous. When it's not treated. A University of Michigan study found a strong correlation between insomnia and suicide. While there are different opinions and assumptions about the exact functions of sleep, it is widely accepted that sleep plays an adaptive role in processing stressors and daily emotions.
Longer working hours, constant access to social commentary and entertainment, and increased stressors contribute to people sleeping less. In addition, the correlational nature of much of the data cannot be used to maintain causality, as is often done in research on emotion regulation and coping. Addressing insomnia and other sleep disorders is an important component of care, as it can reduce excessive daytime sleepiness, as well as other health and behavioral problems in people with ASD. As you can imagine, getting enough sleep with a typical work schedule may be easier to do for a joke than for a night owl.
In particular, the intensification of phasic REM sleep seems to be a marker of dysfunctional or very poor emotional regulation during the day, indicating the need for greater processing of emotions and a regulation of emotions during sleep. The subjects themselves had to score the reported dream segments to determine the presence of negative and positive emotions. Sleep deprivation or interruption is both a common symptom and a risk factor for a variety of psychiatric disorders, including anxiety and mood disorders. Studies on sleep deprivation show that otherwise healthy people may experience increased levels of anxiety and distress after sleeping poorly.
The above-mentioned role of REM sleep in the consolidation of emotional content has recently been questioned. Sleep deprivation and schizophrenia symptoms can be mutually reinforcing, so stabilizing and normalizing sleep patterns has potential benefits. The negative effects of poor sleep are well documented, including the profound impact on mental health and emotional well-being. It is important how the affected sleep physiology has a greater influence on monitoring the processing of emotions.
A recent study on sleep deprivation found that the response time to positive stimuli was faster than to negative and neutral stimuli, while the accuracy in recognizing the valence of stimuli decreased after lack of sleep...
