Everyone is aware that when they don’t get enough sleep, people can feel lethargic and even grumpy.
According to recent studies, people who don’t get enough sleep can develop selfishness and become less willing to provide a helping hand to others.
Three sleep studies were carried out by University of California, Berkeley researchers. They examined behavioural and cognitive changes that benefited others. After even a slight loss of sleep, they discovered a considerable reduction.
According to Ben Simon, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the university’s Center for Human Sleep Science, “Even only an hour of sleep deprivation was more than enough to impact the choice to aid another.” “When people lose an hour of sleep, it is obvious that our innate goodness and desire to help others in need are affected.”
One study found that following Daylight Savings Time, philanthropic donations decreased by 10%. In another, sleep deprivation reduced activity in the area of the brain connected to taking into account other people’s needs. And in the third trial, which involved more than 100 participants, the researchers discovered that when assessing the effects on selfishness, sleep quality was more significant than sleep quantity.
Ivana Rosenzweig, MD, a sleep physician and consultant neuropsychiatrist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study, said, “Sleep has consistently shown to affect our mood and our cognitive functioning, and thus, it also likely affects how we relate to others.”
These results may indicate that after sleep duration exceeds a minimum nominal quantity, it seems to be the quality of that sleep that is most important for facilitating and sustaining our motivation to assist others, the researcher stated.
