1 or 2 hours of lost sleep in a night spikes anxiety, depression

Don’t sleep on this disturbing news.

The adverse effects of chronic sleep deprivation are well-documented, but it turns out that a shortage of shut-eye for just a single evening is very bad for you too.

New research from the American Psychological Association has determined that even an hour or two of poor sleep is likely to leave you feeling less happy and more anxious.

Experts analyzed a staggering 154 sleep studies conducted across 28 countries between 1966 and 2022 to reach the findings.

“This study represents the most comprehensive synthesis of experimental sleep and emotion research to date, and provides strong evidence that periods of extended wakefulness, shortened sleep duration and nighttime awakenings adversely influence human emotional functioning,” lead author Cara Palmer declared in a press release.

The analysis, published this week in the APA’s journal Psychological Bulletin, will no doubt alarm the tens of millions of Americans who think it’s fine to skip an hour or two of sleep if it’s on an occasional basis.

In each study analyzed by Palmer and her team, participants — who were between 7 and 79 and all reported that they were healthy — had their sleep disrupted or were required to rest for less time than usual.

Afterward, they were asked to self-report their mood or measure their depression and anxiety symptoms.  

In almost all of the 154 studies that were analyzed, researchers determined that the sleep loss “resulted in fewer positive emotions such as joy, happiness and contentment among participants, as well as increased anxiety symptoms such as a rapid heart rate and increased worrying.”

“This occurred even after short periods of sleep loss, like staying up an hour or two later than usual or after losing just a few of hours of sleep,” Palmer stated.

While many of the studies looked at just one night’s sleep loss, others had participants sleep less across several evenings.

Those studies suggest that “more extreme periods of sleep deprivation (e.g., 2–3 days) produce more substantial increases in negative affect.”

That is echoed in myriad other studies, including one recent report that found that lack of sleep is compromising the mental health of 78% of adults.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of US adults report that they usually get less than the recommended seven hours of sleep.

According to data from the app Sleep Cycle, the average American spends seven hours and 30 minutes in bed each night, switching off the light at 11:39 p.m. and rising at 7:09 a.m.