There is a connection between sleepless nights and growing feelings of loneliness. Lack of sleep not only reduces our desire and ability to communicate, but also causes others to avoid us, says neuroscientist Matthew Walker.
Why do sleep deprived people feel more lonely than those who get enough sleep? The question was decided to study by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley. They found that people who didn’t get adequate sleep were actually less likely to interact with others. They avoid close contact just like people with social anxiety.
But the bad news doesn’t end there. Sleep-deprived people emit waves of alienation that make them less socially attractive to others. Even well-rested people feel lonely after a short meeting with a sleepy person, which triggers infection with the social isolation virus.
“Humans are social creatures, but lack of sleep turns us into social outcasts,” said study author Matthew Walker.
Sleepless nights, lonely brain
To assess the social consequences of lack of sleep, the study authors conducted a series of complex experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging, standardized questionnaires to identify the degree of loneliness, simulation of situations using videos and surveys of online observers.
Sleepy participants were rated by observers as lonelier and less socially attractive.
First, the researchers tested the social and neural responses of 18 healthy young adults in two states: after a full sleep and after a sleepless night. Participants watched videos of neutral faces approaching them. When the person in the video was so close that the participants began to feel uncomfortable, they pressed the video stop button. In this way, scientists recorded how close the participants allowed another person to approach them.
The results of the experiment confirmed the scientists’ hypothesis. In an experiment conducted after a sleepless night, participants stopped an “approaching” person at a significantly greater distance than in an experiment after a full night of sleep. The conclusions of the scientists are also supported by the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brains of the participants, which was carried out while watching the videos.
The researchers noted increased activity in the zone responsible for the perception of potential danger from another person, as well as a decrease in activity in the zone responsible for social interactions.
At the next stage of the study, the participants in the experiment were asked to get together and discuss various popular topics. More than 1000 online observers followed this discussion on the Web. During the screening, observers answered two questions about each participant: «How lonely does he look?» and “Would you like to engage in social interactions with him?”.
The results showed that sleepy participants were rated by observers as lonelier and less socially attractive. To find out if sleep deprivation is contagious, the researchers asked observers to rate their own levels of loneliness after watching videos of the participants. To their surprise, the researchers found that observers felt more alone and alienated after watching a short video of a sleepy person.
Scientists decided to investigate whether one night of good or bad sleep can affect the feeling of alienation the next day. The researchers tracked each participant’s aloofness using a standardized questionnaire that included the following items: «How often do you feel isolated from others?» and “Do you feel like you have no one to talk to?”
Here’s what the scientists found: how much sleep the night before accurately predicts a person’s degree of social withdrawal the next day. “One sleepless night will not do harm if you continue to sleep the necessary 7-9 hours a day. But if you continue to lack sleep, the prospects are not so bright, ”says Matthew Walker.
contagious alienation
The less we sleep, the less we want to interact with other people. In turn, other people begin to perceive us as socially repulsive people, which only increases the degree of social exclusion due to lack of sleep.
Just one night of good sleep will make you more outgoing and socially confident, which will start to attract others to you.
This vicious circle is one of the key factors contributing to the spread of mass loneliness. Studies in the US show that nearly half of Americans feel lonely and isolated. Moreover, scientists have proven that this condition increases the likelihood of death by 45% or more.
It turns out that alienation brings us closer to death 2 times more often than being overweight. Over the past decades, there has been a significant increase in the level of alienation and an equally rapid increase in sleep deprivation. It doesn’t seem to be a coincidence. By not getting enough sleep, we become socially withdrawn and loneliness knocks on the door.
we are extremely susceptible to sleep deprivation and vulnerable to it. Here is what Matthew Walker says: “If you do not get enough sleep, there is no biological or social support network around you that pushes people to help each other, for example, in case of hunger. This is why our mental and physical health is so easily compromised, even if we lacked just one or two hours of sleep. On the other hand, just one night of good sleep will make you more outgoing and socially confident, which will start to attract others to you.”