SMART THINKING

New research shows that inadequate sleep not only harms our mental and physical wellbeing, it is also detrimental to social bonding.

Inadequate sleep harms our ability to bond with others.

Lack of sleep is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, hypertension and sexual dysfunction. A new study from the University of California now also shows that lack of sleep affects social interactions, making people less willing to help others. MRI scans of sleep-deprived individuals reveal less activation of empathy parts of the brain. Assessments of sleep-deprived people also show decreased desire to help others. The researchers also found that charitable giving drops 10% after the beginning of Daylight Saving Time.

“Over the past 20 years, we have discovered a very intimate link between our sleep health and our mental health. Indeed, we’ve not been able to discover a single major psychiatric condition in which sleep is normal,” said lead researcher and professor of psychology Matthew Walker of UC Berkeley. “This new work demonstrates that a lack of sleep not only damages the health of an individual, but degrades social interactions between individuals and, furthermore, degrades the very fabric of human society itself. How we operate as a social species seems profoundly dependent on how much sleep we are getting.”

An earlier study by Walker and UC Berkeley research scientist Eti Ben Simon found sleep deprivation forced people to socially withdraw and become more socially isolated. A lack of sleep also increased their feelings of loneliness.

“Looking at the big picture, we’re starting to see that a lack of sleep results in a quite asocial and, from a helping perspective, anti-social individual, which has manifold consequences to how we live together as a social species,” said Walker. “Sleep, it turns out, is an incredible lubricant to prosocial, connected, empathic, kind and generous human behaviour. In these divisive times, if there was ever a need for a strong, prosocial lubricant to enable the very best version of ourselves within society, now seems to be it.”

MiNDFOOD

November 2022