A little lack of sleep better than broken sleep
A study suggests that a interrupted sleep is likely to affect the mood more than not getting enough sleep.
The research, done in the US, studied 62 men and women and split them into 3 experimental groups.
The first group was subject to ‘forced awakenings’ during sleep; while the second went to bed late and the last group’s sleep was uninterrupted. This sleep experiment lasted for 3 days.
The group who were regularly woken displayed a ‘low positive mood’ after the first night; however after the second, they had a 31% reduction in positive mood.
In those who went to bed late, a 12% drop in positive mood was found after the second night. This group also demonstrated a shorter periods of deep, slow-wave sleep which researchers associate with a reduction in positive mood.
‘When your sleep is disrupted throughout the night, you don’t have the opportunity to progress through the sleep stages to get the amount of slow-wave sleep that is key to the feeling of restoration,’ said Patrick Finan, professor of psychiatry.
A six hours of uninterrupted or sound sleep might be better than eight hours of interrupted sleep.
