J. George
According to a 2001 study, less than 11% of college students consistently sleep well. * Are you part of the 89% affected by poor sleep? Missing sleep may have more negative effects than students realize. Sleep causes both physical and mental performance deficiencies, but can it also affect emotions? Dinges et al. conducted a study to determine the effects of sleep deprivation on mental and emotional states. The scientists determined that sleep deprivation negatively affects mood.
During the study, 16 test subjects were instructed to sleep 30% less than their usual nightly sleep time for 7 days. Throughout the study, test subjects performed a daily test to determine the effects of sleep restriction on their mood. During the tests, subjects reacted to 65 words which quantified their overall feeling of vigor (feeling energetic) on a scale of 0-32 (32 being the most vigorous). The figure shows the change from before the sleep restriction (B1&B2) through 7 days of restricted sleep (P7). The average score decreased more than 50% over the course of the study. Some may argue that a mood is too subjective to measure, however, the mood test has been used since 1971 and has been deemed a reliable way to quantify changes in mood over time.
The data show that lack of sleep does affect our mood. Though vigor is only one part of overall mood, missing sleep greatly reduces how energetic we feel. In order to perform our best physically and mentally, we feel ready to take on the day’s challenges. The data show that sleep deprivation leads to decreased vigor. Though a few hours of sleep may seem trivial, those few hours compounded over a week cut one’s feeling of liveliness in half, meaning you will likely perform worse and complete less in the time that you are awake.
*Buboltz WC, et al. Sleep Habits and Patterns of College Students. Journal of American College Health. 2001.
**Dinges, David, et al. Cumulative Sleepiness, Mood Disturbance, and Psychomotor Vigilance Performance Decrements During a Week of Sleep Restricted. Sleep Research Society. 1997
