Are Emotions Dependent On Sleep?
- erudite .
- Jul 20, 2022
- 2 min read
By Sanam Marjan
In recent studies, it has been found that a bidirectional relationship exists between emotions and sleep. We are aware how sleep is a necessity for restoring our daily functioning, and depriving it could cause us to be sensitive to its stressful stimuli. Backed up by scientific evidence, it is concluded that sleep is essential for coping and regulating both emotions and emotional stress in daily life. Equally, the way an individual deals with emotional stress and regulates them may tamper the effects of emotional stress on sleep.
Sleep and emotions depend on each other To illustrate, sleeplessness and mood disorders are closely related, and hence, it works both ways. For instance, sleeplessness for a period of time is often an indication of mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Furthermore, sleeplessness may even contribute to developing such mood disorders.
Now the question arises, how much sleep do we actually need to not feel irritated and grumpy when we wake up?
For children to teenagers, 9-10 hours of adequate sleep is required. And for adults, around 8 hours. Most people don’t get enough sleep which in turn takes a toll on their cognitive and mental health.
Sleepiness can make people feel “foggy,” as it slows down our thought processes, lowers alertness and concentration. It gets difficult to focus and makes it easier to get confused and impairs decision making abilities.
On the other hand, excessive sleepiness can hinder memory. Different phases of sleep play different roles in the consolidation of the new information into memories. When sleep is disrupted there are interference in these cycles. And the inability to focus further weakens memory. It also slows reaction time, and can be crucial for tasks that require quick response. Lack of sleep can trigger irritability and anger, lowering the ability to cope with stress. Sleep deprived people polled by the NSF showed less interest in exercise, eating healthy and engaging in leisure activities.
An experiment was conducted using a two week sampling approach in order to examine the impact of daily variations in positive and negative emotions on a nightly self reported sleep onset latency, sleep duration and quality on a woman. And it was confirmed that both positive and negative emotions experienced during the day were correlated with sleep. A recent review summarised that negative emotions, such as loneliness, grief or ferocity, are found to be linked with increased sleep impairments. At the same time Positive emotions, such as romantic love, interest, and gratitude, were connected to decreased sleep duration and enhanced sleep quality.
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