Sleep Loss and Resulting Isolation
In this study, researchers examined what happens to individuals, identified as young adult healthy sleepers, whose sleep was restricted by half on just one night. The data compared their responses after a regular night of sleep to the night with 50% less sleep.
The key finding, “Sleep restricted participants reported reduced motivation to pursue social connections, and less gratitude and feelings of connectedness… compared to the control condition.”
Although this area of research area has been conducted many times over the past few decades, it can never be over-reported, because it speaks to the much larger issue among those who suffer chronic sleep loss. In particular, those with chronic insomnia combined with mental health conditions, invariably struggle to maintain social connections due to their chronic sleep loss.
Although caffeine probably helps some of these afflicted individuals to function during the day, over time the loss of motivation plays a huge role in aggravating their social isolation, which in turn likely leads to more worry and anxiety that then worsens their insomnia.
Unfortunately, many who suffer from mental health problems combined with insomnia do not receive enough attention for their sleep problems, something I address in my new book Life Saving Sleep, due out hopefully within the next month.