A good night’s sleep may help you manage fear and risks
better.
A study just posted in Journal of Neuroscience describes the
importance of a good night’s sleep to controlling strong emotions, especially
fear.
Previous studies in this area attempted to discover what
happens in the brain after a frightful experience. These prior studies, for example, show how
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects sleep. A team at the Rutgers
University Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, led by Itamar
Lerner, has taken a different approach. They wanted to see if there is a
relationship between adequate sleep and prevention or management of the brain’s
reaction to subsequent stressful events.
Research Team
Lerner is a Postdoctoral Fellow in sleep research. Along
with fellow researchers Neha Sinha-also doing Postdoctoral research-in her case
in brain imaging, Shira Lupkin and Alan Tsai, they used new technology that
allows mobile tracking of sleep habits over a period of time, not just one
night in a sleep lab. This research was overseen by Dr. Martin Gluck, Professor
of Neuroscience and Co-Director of the Memory Disorder Project at Rutgers-
Newark.
Conclusion
The research team noted that getting a full
night’s rest, including adequate Rapid-Eye-Movement (REM) sleep, has a
preventive effect in the face of what might otherwise be a fearful, risky or
frightful experience. This seems to be done by modulating the connections among
the amygdala, hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex- all of which are
areas of the brain involved in memory formation, emotions, the “fight or flight”
response (and much more).
A link to the research is here.
One More Reason
In previous posts, we’ve discussed the critical importance
of a full, complete night’s sleep to brain health and peak mental performance
at every age. This new research adds another reason to make sure that we
develop good sleep habits.
Shameless plug: if you aren’t getting a restful night of
sleep, perhaps a sleep mask might help. At www.BigBrain.Place
we offer a terrific
one at the bargain price of $6.
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