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Sleep deprivation has euphoric effects
Author: Jonathan Warren
A lesser known side-effect of sleep deprivation is short-term euphoria, which has the potential to cause poor judgement and addictive behaviour, according to new research published last month.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Medical School investigated the brains of healthy young adults and found them to experience a big boost of that happy feeling, in addition to risky behaviour, after a missed night’s sleep.
The study emphasised that people in high-stakes professions and circumstances, such as doctors and pilots, should not short-change themselves on sleep.
Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study, said: “When functioning correctly, the brain finds the sweet spot on the mood spectrum. But the sleep-deprived brain will swing to both extremes, neither of which is optimal for making wise decisions.”
