A new study presented at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting, held in Houston, Texas, June 1-5, found that a sleep healthy has a positive impact on gratitude, resilience and prosperity in adults.
L’ abstract of the research was recently published in an online supplement of the journal SLEEP and was presented at the event.
The importance of healthy sleep
The results show that subjective sleepiness and mood disturbances improved with earlier bedtimes, prolonging healthy rest by an average of 46 minutes per night, and worsened with later bedtimes, reducing nighttime sleep. on average 37 minutes.
Measures of thriving, resilience, and gratitude improved significantly over the week with sleep extension and worsened significantly with sleep restriction. Participants who slept longer wrote twice as much on their gratitude list as other study participants.
“Survey data indicates that happiness has declined in the United States in recent years, and over the same period, problems with healthy rest have been widespread,” said lead researcher Michael Scullin, who has a doctorate in psychology and is associate professor of psychology and neuroscience. at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.
“Although it is recognized that sleep loss worsens mental health symptoms, no experimental studies have been conducted to test whether increasing healthy rest improves positive aspects of life such as feelings of purpose, hope and gratitude.”
The study involved 90 adults who were randomly assigned to sleep late, sleep early or sleep normally during a single work week and were monitored using actigraphy. The primary outcomes were changes in state and feelings of thriving, resilience, and gratitude, as well as behavioral expressions of gratitude.
The impacts of poor sleep health are well documented. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults get seven hours of sleep a night regularly to promote optimal health, productivity and daytime alertness.
Scullin observed that the experimental increase in sleep improved these positive attributes, which are at the heart of well-being and among the foundations of prosocial behaviors.
“Increasing sleep slightly increased people’s gratitude, resilience and sense of thriving in life,” Scullin said.
Better sleep is associated with less loneliness
Better sleep health was associated with lower levels of loneliness, and this association was strongest among young adults.
The findings indicate that better sleep health was associated with significantly less overall, emotional, and social loneliness. While better sound rest health was associated with less total and emotional loneliness across ages, this association was strongest for young adults. However, age did not moderate the association between sleep health and social loneliness.
“Loneliness is an urgent public health crisis, and there is an urgent need for providers to better understand and treat it,” said lead author and principal investigator Joseph Dzierzewski, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology and is vice president of research at the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, DC
“Our findings highlight the important role sleep plays in understanding loneliness across adult life. Perhaps efforts to improve the health of healthy rest could have a beneficial effect on loneliness, especially for young people.”
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleep is essential for health. The AASM and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults get seven hours of sleep a night on a regular basis to promote optimal health, productivity, and daytime alertness.
The study involved 2,297 adults with an average age of 44; 51% were male. Participants completed an online sleep health questionnaire and a loneliness scale. The researchers analyzed the results using correlation and linear regression analyzes along with moderation analyses.
In 2023, an advisory from the US surgeon general warned of a public health crisis characterized by loneliness, isolation and lack of connection. He noted that even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, about half of U.S. adults reported experiencing measurable levels of loneliness.
According to the authors, efforts and programs that aim to reduce loneliness should include an emphasis on promoting healthy sleep, especially in young adults.
“Why younger adults might experience greater sleep-related benefits to loneliness than older adults is unknown and intriguing—it certainly merits further investigation,” Dzierzewski said.
Irregular sleep and late bedtimes are associated with poorer grades
One study suggests that irregular sleep patterns and late going to bed are linked to poorer grades and more school-related behavioral problems among teens. The authors stated that interventions to promote regular sleep schedules can increase adolescents’ academic performance.
The study, conducted by Gina Marie Mathew, Ph.D., and Lauren Hale, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University and colleagues, appears in Sleep.
The researchers analyzed data from nearly 800 adolescents who participated in a larger study. Participants provided information about grades and school-related behavioral problems. They also wore a wrist accelerometer (a device that records the wearer’s movements) for a week so study staff could estimate their sleep patterns.
Participants with more variable bedtimes were more likely to receive a D or lower during the last assessment period than those with more consistent bedtimes. Teens who went to bed later, got up later, or varied the number of hours they slept per night, took fewer classes in which they received an A.
Teens were more likely to be suspended or expelled in the past two years if they got up later, varied the number of hours they slept each night, or varied the time they went to bed each night.
The authors theorized that late bedtimes could result in late arrivals to school, which could affect learning and behavior. Additionally, many teens are biologically inclined to later hours, which conflicts with school start times.
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