I don’t know about anyone else, but when I don’t get decent sleep at least for a few days, I am the WORST person to get along with. I complain about everything and everyone… Its as if the tiny problems often seem large, and large problems become utterly defeating.

In a study recently published in Current Biology, researchers kept volunteers awake for 35 hours, then showed them pictures designed to provoke an emotional response – and provoke they certainly did. Blood flow to the amygdale -an emotional processing part of the brain- increased by over 60 percent in sleep-deprived brains.

Researchers found that it is almost as though, without sleep, the brain reverts back to a more primitive pattern of activity, becoming unable to put emotional experiences into context and produced controlled, appropriate responses.

The findings may provide insight into psychiatric disorders, many of which are accompanied by sleep problems. Clinical evidence has shown that some form of sleep disruption is present in almost all psychiatric disorders.

In the UK, their researchers said it would be difficult to use it to unravel the relationship between mental health and sleep. Professor Jim Horne stated: “This is a complex area -the big difference is that people with mental illnesses might not be aware that they are over-reacting or behaving irrationally, whereas someone with sleep deprivation would be more aware of this overreaction.”

In addition, we all know that in illnesses such as depression, actually reducing the amount of sleep can be beneficial in moderation and a well-supervised environment.

Apparently, there have been a  lot of studies into the effects of sleep deprivation; this is the first to show what is happening in the brain response to such emotional stimuli…