As the most common mental illness in the United States, anxiety disorders affect around 40 million American adults. Meanwhile, one-third of U.S. adults usually do not get enough sleep — a factor that can make mental health, including anxiety, worse.
![anxiety]()
While proper sleep may not cure anxiety issues, it can help relieve the often debilitating effects of anxiety. Research shows the connection between sleep and anxiety is a significant one.
Researchers at the University of California conducted brain scans on 18 young adults while they watched emotional videos, both after a good night’s rest and a sleepless night. Questionnaires were used to gauge anxiety levels in the study participants, while the brain scans revealed that lack of sleep dampened activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area known to help quell anxiety, and amped up emotional centers.
Meanwhile, those who slept well demonstrated notable declines in anxiety, with slow wave nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep appearing particularly beneficial. It's during slow-wave NREM deep sleep that neural oscillations become synchronized and heart rate and blood pressure drop.
Lead study author Eti Ben Simon explained, “Deep sleep had restored the brain's prefrontal mechanism that regulates our emotions, lowering emotional and physiological reactivity and preventing the escalation of anxiety.” The study also suggests that when your brain is sleep deprived, its less able to control reactions to stressful events.
Lack of sleep doesn’t just heighten anxiety levels. Sleeplessness has also been shown to contribute to chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. As for its effects on your brain, lack of sleep may contribute to depression. It's also known to affect areas of the brain involved with concentration and problem-solving, making them sluggish.
For tips to help optimize your sleep routine, click here.