Sleep Deprivation and Anxiety

This article is about more research presented at the Sleep Meeting in Boston. It describes how sleep deprivation could increase anxiety in those already prone to anxiety. Researchers sleep deprived participants and showed them emotionally upsetting images. Those sleep deprived participants, especially those prone to anxious reactions, had stronger responses to the images than those that were not sleep deprived. This research is interesting, and I conclude that getting as much sleep as possible my help people with anxiety disorders function better. However, patients with anxiety disorders usually have some insomnia already, putting them in a catch-22. Perhaps treating the anxiety would allow them to sleep better, which would then reduce their tendency to be anxious. More studies are needed for sure.