According to a new research study, deep sleep can be benefitial and also be considered a non-pharmaceutrical remedy for anxiety disorders. According to the findings of the study, a function of deep sleep helped in decreased overnight by reorganising nerve connections in the brain.
The study that was published in the journal Nature Human Behavior said that patients of mental health are often plagued by feelings of anxiety, worry that are sp strong that they end u[ interfering with their daily activities.
The researchers of the research, along with those from the University of California Berkeley in the US found that deep sleep—also known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) slow-wave sleep—can calm and reset the anxious brain.
In this sleep state, oscillations in the electrical activity in the brain's neurons become highly synchronized, and the heart rate and blood pressure drops, the researchers said.
A sleepless night can trigger anxiety by up to 30 per cent while a full night's nap can stabilise emotions.
According to the researchers, the study provides one of the strongest links to date between the brain circuits involved in sleep and anxiety.
"Our study strongly suggests that insufficient sleep amplifies levels of anxiety and, conversely, that deep sleep helps reduce such stress," said study lead author Eti Ben Simon from UC Berkeley.
They measured the anxiety levels of the participants following each session via a questionnaire known as the state-trait anxiety inventory.
When the participants did not get any sleep, their scans showed a shutdown of a brain region called the medial prefrontal cortex, which normally helps keep our anxiety in check, while the brain's deeper emotional centers were overactive, the researchers said.
"Without sleep, it's almost as if the brain is too heavy on the emotional accelerator pedal, without enough brake," Walker said.
The results revealed that the participants who had a full night of sleep had significantly reduced anxiety levels, especially for those who experienced more slow-wave NREM sleep.
"Deep sleep had restored the brain's prefrontal mechanism that regulates our emotions, lowering emotional and physiological reactivity and preventing the escalation of anxiety," Simon said.
The researchers said that even subtle nightly changes in sleep affected the participants' anxiety levels.
"People with anxiety disorders routinely report having disturbed sleep, but rarely is sleep improvement considered as a clinical recommendation for lowering anxiety," Simon said.
The study, the researchers said, not only establishes a causal connection between sleep and anxiety, but also identifies the kind of deep sleep needed to calm an overanxious brain.
