If you’ve ever tossed and turned all night only to find yourself extremely irritable the next day, you’ve experienced one of the effects of sleep deprivation on mental health firsthand. Lack of sleep can shorten our fuse by ramping up activity in the amygdala, or the part of the brain that processes emotions like fear and anxiety. Without the kind of regulation that happens during sufficient sleep, the amygdala is essentially more prone to firing at the slightest inconvenience.
You might imagine how this kind of irritable or on-edge temperament could also then make it difficult to drift off to sleep at night. In this way, the effects of sleep deprivation on mental health can, in turn, make good sleep all the more elusive, kicking off a vicious cycle.
“Mental health challenges frequently disrupt sleep cycles and are worsened by disrupted sleep cycles.” —Monica Amorosi, LMHC, CCTP, NCC, licensed trauma therapist
Indeed, mental health problems like anxiety and Featured Fitness Health
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