Could your anger be related to lack of sleep? | Life

AMES, November 29 – A new American study showed that not sleeping a few hours a night could make you angry and diminish your ability to adapt to certain situations.

Conducted by researchers from Iowa State University, the new study involved 142 participants randomly divided into two groups.

One group was asked to maintain their normal sleep routine for two days, while the other was asked to limit their sleep from two to four hours a night for two nights.

Participants also noted their feelings of anger before and after sleep during a laboratory test, in which they were asked to evaluate the products while listening to different background sounds, designed to create situations frustrating can cause anger.

The results, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, showed that those who maintained their regular sleep pattern slept an average of nearly seven hours per night, while those in the restricted group had four and a half hours each night, which, according to the researchers, reflects the loss of sleep regular experience in everyday life.

In addition, researchers also found that sleep restriction universally intensified feelings of anger. Co-author Zlatan Krizan added that the loss of sleep had a unique impact on anger, rather than simply feeling more negative at that time.

The study is one of the first to show that lack of sleep can lead to feelings of anger, with previous research revealing a link, but not establishing a cause-and-effect relationship, according to the researchers. Sleep loss has also been linked to an increase in negative emotions, such as anxiety and sadness, and to a decrease in positive emotions, such as happiness and enthusiasm.

"In general, anger was significantly stronger in people with sleep disorders," said Krizan. "We manipulated how annoying the noise was during the task and, as expected, people reported more anger when the noise was more unpleasant. When sleep was limited, people reported even more anger, no matter how loud. "

"Despite the usual tendency to get used to irritating conditions – an uncomfortable shirt or a barking dog – people with sleep disorders actually showed a tendency to anger and distress, essentially reversing their ability. to adapt to the frustrating conditions. Nobody has shown this before. "

Preliminary results from another study conducted by the team also suggest that laboratory experiments could also apply to real life, as researchers discovered that students participating in the research also reported consistently more anger than usual on the days when they slept more. private.

Researchers are now starting to collect data to determine if sleep loss could even lead to aggressive behavior toward others. – AFP-Relaxnews