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Too little sleep
can lead to high anxiety
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New information from sleep experts links too little sleep to higher anxiety levels. People who are already nervous have trouble sleeping. Conversely , lack of sleep can make already nervous people even more anxious , supercharging emotional responses from altered brain processes.
Lack of sleep triggers emotional brain centers
Researchers from the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory at the University of California , Berkeley used MRI's of the brain to find how lack of sleep triggers emotional centers in the brain; in particular , the amygdala that reacts to unpleasant events.
For the study , investigators performed functional MRI (fMRI) on 16 subjects: once after sleep deprivation and once after a good night’s sleep. They were shown either an unpleasant or neutral image while scientists looked at what happened in the brain.
For some of the study participants , sleep deprivation increased the anticipation of a negative event as much as 60 percent.
"Anticipation is a fundamental brain process , a common survival mechanism across numerous species ," said Andrea Goldstein , lead author of the study and a graduate student in the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory , in a media release.
The researchers also noted sleep deprivation had the biggest impact on people who were naturally anxious.
The study is presented at SLEEP 2012 , the 26th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).
Goldstein said , "Our results suggest that just one night of sleep loss significantly alters the optimal functioning of this essential brain process , especially among anxious individuals. This is perhaps never more relevant considering the continued erosion of sleep time that continues to occur across society."
Source:
June 10 , 2012
