The latest research found published in the Journal of Behaviour Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry outlines the fact that those who sleep less than eight hours a night are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, furthermore you are less likely to tackle negative thoughts and disengage with negative emotions.
Specifically, the study comprised of 52 adults with “repeated negative thinking” (RNT) – a disorder that causes compulsive focus of attention on thoughts that cause sadness, anxiety and stress. The research then analysed the participants’ sleep patterns via interviews and the monotoring of their eye movements, after this the participants were shown images intended to trigger an emotional response, as well as neutral pictures that were meant to evoke no response at all. The results concluded that getting an insufficient amount of sleep – which is classed as less than eight hours – causes people to spend more time looking at emotionally negative images, often meaning that they are unable or less effective at disengaging from the negative pictures they view.
The author of the study, Professor Meredith Coles from Binghamton University stated this: “We found that people in this study have some tendencies to have thoughts get stuck in their heads, and their elevated negative thinking makes it difficult for them to disengage with the negative stimuli that we exposed them to,”
Furthermore the academic went on to say that: “We realised over time that this might be important – this repetitive negative thinking is relevant to several different disorders like anxiety, depression and many other things.”
I think no matter who you are there are probably some pieces of advice or lessons to take away with you.
