Not Sleeping Well Makes You Lose Control Of Your Emotions

It sounds incredible, yet sleep is becoming a luxury that not everyone can afford. Sleep is one of the dimensions on which one’s emotional difficulties are most reflected. Furthermore, not sleeping adequately can prove to be a real health risk, as well as accentuating problems, of whatever nature they may be.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an adult should sleep between 7 and 8 hours each night in order to get a healthy rest, both for the body and for the mind. Conversely, the effects of not sleeping can be very serious. Among these, the WHO emphasizes one in particular: spending even one night without sleep can lead to the loss of the cerebral cortex.

When the hours of sleep are not enough or if you are unable to enjoy a sound sleep, it is easy to get on the edge of your skin. It is normal to show signs of irritability or to become particularly sensitive to any stimulus. This aspect has been confirmed by several studies conducted on this subject.

Not sleeping generates “a hurricane of emotions” 

A sleep study was recently completed at Tel Aviv University and published in the Journal of Neuroscience . The study proved that those who do not get enough sleep perceive and feel daily reality differently.

The research looked at a group of 18 adults, who underwent two tests – one after a good night’s rest, the other after a sleepless night. The test consisted of showing them a series of images that differed between “emotionally positive” (a teddy bear for example), “emotionally negative” (a mutilated body) and, finally, “neutral” (a spoon, a chair, etc. .).

All the participants were monitored through encephalograms which allowed them to observe the activity of their brains. The conclusion was that, by not sleeping, the participants’ brains were practically unable to distinguish images emotionally. Following the sleepless night, in fact, the reactions were almost the same for positive, negative and neutral images. According to scholars, this can only indicate a loss of control of one’s emotions.

Irrational and primary behaviors

Another study carried out by the University of Berkeley, has shown that sleeping two or more hours less than recommended has serious repercussions on the prefrontal cortex, which is the point in the brain where emotions are managed. The result of the study is that lack of sleep leads to more irrational and primary responses.

Matthew Walker, lead of the study, noted that not sleeping adequately “breaks the mechanisms that protect us from mental illness,” adding that sleep restores emotional circuits allowing us to better cope with the challenges of daily life.

Walker also said that although sleep deprivation is believed to lead to numbness and passivity, the exact opposite is actually the case. People who do not sleep no longer become passive, but up to 60% more reactive; in other words, they are more violent and unable to control themselves.

How much does it cost us not to sleep well

Poor sleep also brings other problems. In fact, the emotional balance risks being compromised, while the ability to react to stimuli will decrease. This means that when we don’t get enough sleep, we run a higher risk of accidents. It is estimated that driving without a good night’s sleep is equivalent to driving under the influence of alcohol.

On the other hand, thought patterns are also significantly altered due to lack of sleep. It is therefore more difficult to process the information received and make decisions. One study indicates that medical errors among healthcare professionals who work 24-hour shifts can reach 400%. Likewise, it has been found that those who sleep less than they should are at risk of developing memory problems.

The brain isn’t the only organ that is seriously affected by sleep deprivation.  Not sleeping well increases the likelihood that our entire body will be affected by various diseases. For example, not sleeping is known to damage the immune system, while other data confirm that it also affects the development of diabetes, cancer and even obesity.

Finally, it pays to make sure you get adequate sleep. Good sleep is a very important good that we must take care of and preserve. It is undoubtedly one of the great pillars of our mental health.