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Sleep problems create anxiety
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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We are accustomed to believing that mental stress and stressful situations lead to sleep disorders. As it turns out, sleep problems themselves can cause mental disorders.
Feelings of unfounded anxiety and rapid fatigue indicate that you simply need a good night's sleep. According to researchers at the Berkeley Institute in California, insufficient sleep causes excessive anxiety. This happens due to the activation of the amygdala, which plays a key role in the formation of emotions, and the insular region of the cerebral cortex.
Scientists tested eighteen young people. During the experiment, neutral and disturbing images were shown, as well as their combination. The subjects studied the images twice - first after a full night's sleep, and then after insomnia. Encephalography was used to assess the quality of sleep. The study participants were required to describe their feelings about what they saw. Before testing, each person was checked for anxiety levels, as a result of which no critical values were found in any of the subjects.
Each image was supported by a comment, as if tuning the psyche to a certain mood. For example, an illustration with a large red minus was characterized by a negative situation (foreshadowed the fear of death), and before showing a yellow circle, the subjects were tuned to a positive perception. The image of a white question mark was called the most stressful symbol, since it was not known what picture would follow it (positive or negative).
It was the question mark that most evoked the emotional areas of the brain in young people after a sleepless night. The amygdala, commonly known as the fear center, and the insular cortex responded most strongly. An emotional surge was observed in all young people, regardless of their initial anxiety levels. Of course, the intensity of the emotional expression varied and was higher in those subjects whose initial numbers also stood out from the crowd.
Scientists have come to an unambiguous conclusion that panic anxiety is caused by sleep disorders or lack of it. It should be noted that risk factors include: poor or restless sleep, frequent awakenings, inability to sleep due to irritating factors (noise, light, stomach disorders, etc.). All this leads to an increase in anxiety, which is fraught with more serious problems - depression, other psychoneurological diseases.
The connection between adequate sleep and mental health has been noted before. Such diseases as panic attacks or bipolar disorders have been and are treated by the method of correcting the sleep state, which brings a positive effect. The neurological course of the process and the characteristics of the connection between sleep and the state of the psyche have remained a mystery until now. There were only assumptions about sleep disturbance as a symptom arising as a result of mental imbalance. Only now, after the experiment, doctors can talk about the reverse process and interaction.
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