The Big Picture: Dr. Puja Uppal, Family Medicine, “Remember, good sleep equals a happier life!”
Doctor’s Expert Insights about Sleep Health and Emotional Regulation in Georgia
Know this: “This massive research review of over 50 years of science is highlighting the importance of sleep in our modern lives. The science is clear–good sleep, regular sleep, and a consistent sleep schedule are steps you can take to improve your emotional health as well. Dr. Palmer’s meta-analysis has shown that even losing an hour or two of sleep can harm our emotional and mental health. Their work shows that minimal sleep loss can significantly affect emotional well-being, reduce positive emotions, and increase anxiety symptoms. As we’re entering the season of New Year Resolutions, here’s one–make sleep a priority for both your mental health and everyday wellbeing.” Dr. Puja Uppal, Family Medicine.
**Beyond the news: **Persistent sleep deprivation, an often accepted variable of modern life, is contributing to a rise in mental health issues such as anxiety and mood disorders.
Key Findings:
“Sleep loss produced positive, significant effects on anxiety symptoms, with some evidence that this effect is stronger for younger individuals. The anxiogenic effect of sleep loss is among the most consistently reported in the literature, though this relationship is likely bidirectional (Palmer & Alfano, 2017), given that the same neural alterations (e.g., excessive amygdala and insula activity) and deficient top-down emotion regulatory processes that characterize clinical levels of anxiety also typify the neurobiological consequences of sleep loss (Ball et al., 2013; Etkin & Wager, 2007; Simmons et al., 2011) Hypoactivity in the medial prefrontal cortex specifically has been directly linked with sleep-related changes in anxiety (Ben Simon, Rossi, et al., 2020).” (Research…
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