Interrupted Sleep

A study published in the journal Sleep reports that interrupted sleep can affect mood and behaviour more than chronic sleeplessness. This fact was established after researchers from US studied 62 men and women after splitting them into three experimental groups.

The first group was subjected to interruption during sleep whereas the second group went to bed late. The last group had a sound sleep i.e. without interruption. The first group displayed a low positive mood after the first night but after the second night, there was a reduction of 31% in positive mood. The second group had a 12% drop in their positive mood after the second night. The second group was also found to have shorter periods of deep, slow-wave sleep that played a significant role in the dipping positive mood.

The study noted that sleep disruptions shorten the periods of deep, slow-wave restorative sleep needed for the brain to feel calm and rested.