Sleep Deprivation Amplifies Negative Reactions

By Gina Trapani on October 25, 2007 at 4:30 AM

New research shows that you’re much more likely to overreact to bad news or experiences when you haven’t gotten enough sleep, LiveScience reports.

“While we predicted that the emotional centres of the brain would overreact after sleep deprivation, we didn’t predict they’d overreact as much as they did,” [researcher Matthew] Walker said. “They became more than 60 percent more reactive to negative emotional stimuli. That’s a whopping increase—the emotional parts of the brain just seem to run amok.”

Sleep loss is also decreases the strength of your immune system, your ability to learn and memory, too. See also our top 10 ways to sleep smarter and better.

Emotions Run Amok in Sleep-Deprived Brains [LiveScience]

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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)

  • KMT
    October 24, 2007 at 5:27 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 4:41 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 4:30 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 4:21 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 4:09 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 3:25 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 3:17 PM

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  • ElizaAmos
    October 24, 2007 at 2:59 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 6:14 PM

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  • John_T
    October 24, 2007 at 9:56 PM

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    October 24, 2007 at 9:52 PM

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  • benjpw
    October 25, 2007 at 12:10 AM

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  • cv
    October 25, 2007 at 3:09 AM

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