A study has found that having less than eight hours sleep daily can lead to anxiety and depression. The new research suggests that insomniacs are less able to overcome negative thoughts than those who get sufficient shut-eye.
The findings, which were published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry shows that people who are unable to have sufficient sleep could find it difficult to disengage from negative emotions and tantrums.
Study author Professor Meredith Coles from Binghamton University, said: “We discovered that people in the 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.
“We realized over time that this might be important, this repetitive negative thinking is relevant to several different disorders like anxiety, depression and many other things.”
Around 40 to 16 million adults in the United States, suffer from anxiety and depression every year.
The researchers analyzed 52 adults with ‘repeated negative thinking’ (RNT). RNT is the compulsive focus of attention on thoughts that cause sadness, anxiety and distress.
Participants in the study had varying sleep durations and bedtimes. Interviews were carried out to determine their sleep patterns. They were also exposed to images intended to trigger an emotional response, as well as neutral pictures, while the researchers monitored their eye movements.
Results reveal getting insufficient sleep causes people to spend more time looking at emotionally-negative images. Insomnia also results in sufferers being unable to disengage from the negative pictures they view.
“While other people may be able to receive negative information and move on, the participants had trouble ignoring it.“We realized over time that this might be important this repetitive negative thinking is relevant to several different disorders like anxiety, depression and many other things.
The researchers are conducting further studies to ascertain how the timing and duration of sleep contribute to psychological disorders. This may allow psychologists to one day treat anxiety and depression by aiding sufferers’ sleep.
