New York (Web Desk): Researchers have found that deep sleep, which involves non-rapid-eye movement, is enough to reduce anxiety, calm an individual and stabilised emotions.
On the other hand, a sleepless night can spike a person’s anxiety levels by 30 per cent, says a research conducted at UC Berkeley, in the United States.
Scientist analysed the brains of 18 adults as they watched anxiety-induced video clips. There was a marked difference when the participants watched the videos after a full night of rest, compared to when they watched it after night of little sleep. Under-slept adults were recorded to be overly anxious and emotional throughout the day.
UC Berkeley professor of neuroscience and psychology Matthew Walker told Berkeley News, “We have identified a new function of deep sleep, one that decreases anxiety overnight by reorganizing connections in the brain.”
The study's author says, “Deep sleep seems to be a natural anxiolytic (anxiety inhibitor), so long as we get it each and every night.”
The scientist says this finding has provided the strongest neural link between sleep and anxiety to date.
