A good night's rest is typically associated with feeling refreshed, energized, productive and therefore happy. However, it has been known for decades that sleep deprivation can lead to elevated mood. In fact, depriving depressed patients of sleep is an extremely effective (albeit ephemeral) antidepressant therapy. How can that be the case?
It is thought that sleep deprivation kind of throws your emotional balance out of wack. Or in more scientific terms, it "imposes a bidirectional nature of affective imbalance" (reference below). This means that sleep-deficient people have amplified reactions to both positive and negative stimuli. Researchers from an fMRI study published last week had subjects stay awake for 36h, gave them a pleasant stimulus, and then scanned their brains. The results showed that the reward networks were more active in these subjects compared to (well-rested) controls.
This may make less sleep seem like something to be desired. However, the study also found decreased coupling between the reward areas and the executive function parts of the brain - for instance, the parts used to integrate information and make decisions. One way to interpret this is that the sleepy subjects are reacting more and processing less, which can be an unhealthy combination.
Source:
Gujar et al. J Neurosci 31, 2011.
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