Scientist conducted experiments in oder to determine how a good night sleep can affect mood.
In a recent study concerning sleeping habits, scientists have discovered that bad moods are linked to sleep. It seems that a person’s overall mood for the next day is influenced by how well he slept the other night. Basically, the paper’s results show that even a brief period of uninterrupted sleep is more beneficial to us than a night when we have to wake up a couple of times.
The research endeavor has been conducted by representatives from the Johns Hopkins University. The study also reveals that there are a couple of stages inside the sleeping process. The first process is named non-REM sleep (REM means rapid eye movement). This is considered to be the first process of sleep. An awake body slowly falls asleep prompting a decrease metabolical activity, meaning that every function slows down including heart rate, breathe rate and body temperature. There is also a subsequent decrease of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter. Non-REM sleeps accounts for about 80 percent of sleep in humans.
The second stage of sleep is called the NREM 1, which is short for, light sleep, drowsiness and even somnolence and it is that period that occurs between deep sleep and wakefulness. Myoclonic movements are also associate with NREM 1 stage.
Another sleep stage is called the NREM 2 and it is associated with deep sleep. Theta waves become more pregnant and the individual’s awareness of the surrounding environment slowly falls into dissolution.
The next stage of sleep is the NREM 3, also known as slow-wave sleep. This is considered to be the most comfortable slumber, the sleeper is less aware of the environment and he will usually won’t respond to outside stimuli.
The final stage of sleep is the REM stage. Upon descending into the rapid eye movement state, the organism experiences decreased activity in heart rate and temperature. Also he is unable to trigger any muscle activity. This is the sleep stage associated with soothing and lucid dreams.
Getting back to our study, researchers from the prestigious school of Medicine wanted to find out how the outcome of a night’s sleep could influence the patient’s mood. During a three-day sleep study 62 men and women have been subjected to different outside stimuli during their sleep.
The candidates were subjected to three types of controlled tests. In the first one, doctors will try to force them into waking up. In the second part of the test they try to delay the time they went to bed and in the final part of the test researchers would let the candidates get a short and uninterrupted nap.
Results show that there was a decrease in mood by 32 percent when the patients were forced to wake up and a 22 percent decrease when their bed time interval was delayed.
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