Unhappy? Sleep it off, says new UBC study
Happiness might seem in short supply these days as the COVID -19 pandemic stretches on: “fewer faces in bigger spaces,” smaller bubbles, less socializing and last call at 10 p.m. However, that early cutoff time at the bar just might do everyone some good. A new study on sleep deprivation by University of B.C. researcher and health psychologist Nancy Sin shows that if you don't get enough sleep, not only are the lows lower, the highs are also lower as well.
When you don't get adequate sleep, the good experiences just don't feel as good.
“Our reward systems, and our drive to seek positive experiences out or gain benefit from them, tends to be highly linked with sleep,” said Sin, who crunched data from a national U.S. sample of almost 2,000 people, to understand how sleep duration influences responses to both negative and positive situations the next day.
Her study, published in Health Psychology, shows that if people have shortened or disrupted sleep, they're less likely to seek out positive experiences and, if something positive does happen, they'll be less likely to notice or enjoy the moment.
“It was surprising,” said Sin. “We have an intuitive sense of this, but it hasn't really been studied before. I was expecting more action in terms of negative emotions after disrupted sleep — more anger, sadness or frustration — but I saw that most of the action was in our positive emotions.”
On average, about one in three adults don't get the recommended amount of sleep.
“This is a major public health issue,” said Sin. “The solution is not as easy as saying get more sleep. To change your habits and patterns, we also have to think about how we set up our environments, like having routines that promote sleep in the workplace.”
Early start times at school or at work, and expectations of working at home, like checking email at night, can negatively influence sleep patterns, Sin said.
“You still notice negative things in your environment, which is very important for survival, but you are less likely to pick up on positive cues and positive information,” she said. Positive emotions are linked to survival, though not in quite the same way as a negative emotion, like fear, which cues us to danger. Without positive emotions, people have fewer chances to build resources they need when they're stressed, Sin said: “Positive emotions are related to our survival in that when we feel positive we are more likely to engage in play, form or maintain relationships and build intellectual or work resources.”