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Sleep Deprivation Lets Negative, Intrusive Thoughts In

November 11, 2020

More than being grumpy, sleep deprivation can have serious impacts on your mental health. New research from the University of York has shown that sleep-deprived individuals struggle to suppress negative and unwanted thoughts. This demonstrates how important healthy sleep is for our mental health, particularly for those suffering from psychiatric conditions.

The study recruited 60 healthy participants, and helped them to associate various portraits with neutral or negative scenes. After a night of sleep deprivation or proper rest, individuals were then shown the portraits and asked to suppress their associated thoughts. Sleep deprived individuals struggled to suppress unwanted thoughts, and didn’t have any positive change in their perception of the negative scenes over time, unlike the well-rested individuals.

This demonstrates how important a good night’s sleep is for mental health, and particularly for those suffering from conditions characterised by intrusive thoughts, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). All of us are likely to experience intrusive and unwanted thoughts, such as negative self-talk from time to time, particularly in this COVID environment. Let’s equip ourselves well to battle these thoughts, and get a good night’s sleep.

If you have experienced difficulties with sleep or find yourself excessively tired when awake, you should consider speaking to your family doctor or a sleep specialist, where a sleep study may be recommended to determine whether a sleep disorder is present. If so, most sleep disorders are readily treatable.