Sleep Quality and Moods

By Ram Rao, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist for Apollo Health

Individuals who have dementia frequently undergo alterations in their emotional reactions, leading to instances such as exaggerated reactions, sudden shifts in mood, or heightened irritability. Furthermore, persons with dementia experience fragmented or discontinuous sleep at night. While poor sleep and mood disorders are interconnected, the exact relationship between these two events remains unclear. Both factors influence each other: sleep deprivation can impact mood, and mood disturbances can disrupt sleep quantity and quality. Research indicates that individuals experiencing sleep deprivation often report heightened negative emotions such as anger, frustration, irritability, and sadness, alongside reduced positive moods. Conversely, individuals who display mood disorders like depression and anxiety are more likely to experience fragmented or discontinuous sleep.

Furthermore, mood states significantly influence sleep patterns. Increased anxiety and stress can lead to heightened arousal, making it difficult to relax and fall asleep. This can manifest in persistent mental activity, accelerated heart rate, and shallow breathing. Therefore, ensuring adequate and restorative sleep is crucial for overall well-being.

Optimal sleep is essential for the well-being of an individual as the body utilizes the sleep process to repair any damage sustained during the waking hours. Good sleep also helps to maintain a healthy immune system and keeps an individual in a positive frame of mind. Poor quality sleep (1) results in failure to sustain and preserve new memory, (2) triggers obesity and other metabolic disturbances, (3) contributes to accidents, falls, and traffic mishaps, (4) triggers emotional disturbances, and (5) lowers immunity making the individual more susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases.

We live in a world where a significant number of people are poor sleepers. If one were to compare the statistics of poor-quality sleep, it is interesting to note that the numbers are nearly similar throughout the world. Within the USA, more than 30% of the population suffers from insomnia, with more than half of Americans failing to have sound sleep due to tension, work, stress, or emotional upheaval. Between 40% and 60% of people over the age of 60 suffer from insomnia, with women up to twice as likely to suffer from insomnia than men. Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. use prescription sleep aids. Thus, the type of sleep and how we are affected by it is of great interest to sleep researchers.

In one such sleep study, researchers sought to find out what the worst kind of sleep that would trigger poor health: Interrupted/fragmented/discontinuous sleep — the kind where you go to bed at the normal time but are constantly up every few hours or Abbreviated sleep — the kind where you go to bed very late in the night and get about 3 to 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep. The study was conducted on a group of 62 healthy men and women who did not have any sleep issues and were all good sleepers. The participants spent three days and nights in a sleep lab with the researchers, measuring and analyzing their sleep stages (light to deep slumber). 

The participants were randomly divided into three groups: The first group of 21 participants was woken up several times during the night (interrupted sleep), the second group of 17 was asked to go to sleep very late in the night, but their sleep was of short duration and was not interrupted (abbreviated sleep), and the third group of 24 serving as the control went to sleep early and was allowed to sleep uninterruptedly through the night. Participants answered questions about their moods (positive and negative) each evening. The researchers also looked at the participants’ brain patterns through a test called polysomnography.

When the researchers compared the mood of all three groups, the first two groups (interrupted and abbreviated sleep) showed a decline in positive mood after the first night. But on the next two nights, the interrupted sleepers continued to report a significant decrease in positive moods, while the abbreviated sleepers did not report any further drop — their mood stayed at about the same level they had reported after the first night. The declining trend in positive mood in the interrupted sleep group occurred regardless of what the participants reported on the negative mood scale. Thus, interrupted sleep seems to have a stronger effect on dampening positive moods than it does on increasing negative emotions.

When the researchers looked at the brain patterns of the sleep groups, they found that the interrupted sleepers showed significantly less “slow wave sleep” (slow wave sleep, aka deep sleep, normally associated with feeling rested and rejuvenated) than the other two groups of sleepers that had slept continuously. The significant drop in the slow wave sleep was associated with the striking drop in positive moods that has implications for how everything from stress to depression can affect both sleep and mood. The most important question that was not clear from the study is whether interrupted sleep triggered faulty mood behavior or whether carrying negative moods to the bed triggered interrupted sleep. Whatever may be the initiator, it appears that losing slow-wave sleep impairs the ability to recover or stabilize positive emotions.

The research study offers a reasonable explanation of the need for timely, good-quality, and uninterrupted sleep. Good sleep is essential for a person’s health and well-being, and if you are experiencing sleep problems, there is quite a price to pay.  At Apollo Health, quality sleep is the foundation of the KetoFLEX 12/3 Lifestyle. We recommend that you achieve seven to eight hours of quality sleep. Our Sleep guide provides detailed information about sleep strategies, sleep hygiene, sleep aids, and techniques to help with sleep.