Lack Of Sleep Makes Your Emotions Run Wild

It may seem unbelievable, but sleep has become a luxury that not everyone can enjoy. Emotional problems are often reflected in sleep. Lack of sleep results in various risks and exacerbates many types of problems.

According to the WHO, a normal adult should sleep between 7 to 8 hours a night to get the best form of rest, both physically and mentally. And the effects of sleep deprivation can be serious. Among them, we find the following: not sleeping overnight can result in a loss of brain tissue.

When you do not get enough sleep or when you do not sleep well enough, your nerves are at full stretch. It is common to become irritated and sensitive. This has been shown in many studies.

Lack of sleep creates a hurricane of emotions

A recently published study at Tel Aviv University, which was later published in the Journal of Neuroscience , showed that people who do not get enough sleep see everyday life differently.

They used a group of 18 adults who received a test after one night when they slept well, and then another after a night when they had not slept well. The test involved showing them pictures, some of which were “emotionally positive” (such as a teddy bear), others that were emotionally negative (such as a dead body) and others that were neutral (such as a chair).

All participants were examined with EEG, which allowed their brain activity to be observed. They stated that when they were not sleeping, the people could not distinguish emotionally between the different images. Their reactions to positive, negative and neutral images were similar. According to the researchers, this indicated a lack of emotional control.

Irrational, primitive behaviors

Another study from the University of California-Berkeley showed that if you lose two or more hours of sleep, this can affect the part of the brain that regulates emotions. Therefore, sleep deprivation leads to irrational and primitive responses.

Matthew Walker, who led the study, pointed out that “sleep deprivation affects the brain mechanisms that regulate key aspects of our mental health.” He also said that sleep restores our brain circuits and allows us to respond to the day better.

Walker further said that most people believe that lack of sleep leads to inactivity, but this is not true. Those who do not get enough sleep become more passive, but 60% become more reactive, or in other words, more violent and lose control.

The price of sleep deprivation

This also leads to other problems. Your emotional balance is affected and also your ability to respond to stimuli. This means that when you do not sleep well, you run a greater risk of being involved in accidents. This can be compared to driving a car under the influence of alcohol.

One’s thought patterns will also be affected by sleep deprivation. It becomes more difficult to handle information and make decisions. One study indicated that medical errors increased by 400% in nurses working 24-hour shifts. It has also been shown that people who sleep less than others can develop memory problems.

The brain is not the only one affected by a lack of sleep. There is also a greater risk of contracting diseases. The immune system can, for example, be affected. There are also data indicating that there is an increased risk of diabetes, cancer and obesity.

With that said, it’s worth evaluating if you get enough sleep. Sleep is important and something that everyone should think about. It is without a doubt the most basic thing for good mental health.