In a fresh study published this month in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health in Tokyo examined the relationship between sleep deprivation and dread associated with Advertise Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a serious disorder in which, after some type of traumatic event (combat, natural disaster, abuse, etc.) involving the threat of injury or death, a person can suffer from a debilitating anxiety disorder involving the following:
a heightened sense of awareness (e.g. insomnia)
reliving the event (e.g. nightmares)
avoidance of things that remind them of the event (e.g. the bedroom)
guilt about their survival
The researchers recruited two groups of healthy volunteers. All participants watched a film with traumatic content. Then, one collection was allowed to go to sleep, while the other was forced to stay awake for 24 hours. Amazingly, the researchers measured less dread of the film’s content in the sleep-deprived collection than in the collection that got to sleep.
The researchers hypothesized that a condition of sleep deprivation, like acute insomnia after a lifetime threatening trauma, may aid prevent human beings from forming fearful memories. Not extended ago, I blogged about sleep and reminiscence. We know that Rapid Eye Movement sleep (REM Sleep) is when we see a excellent part of the mental restoration, when we go data from our small term reminiscence into our extended term reminiscence and organize our thoughts in such a path that can aid us recall data later on. Could it be that with total sleep deprivation the brain is not allowed to form a extended term reminiscence of an event? While this may be imaginable, more research is certainly needed to bigger know this complex situation.
Contemporary treatments for PTSD comprehend reliving the familiarity (“exposure”) and then working with someone on the feelings that are brought up by re-living the familiarity. In many cases, anxiety medication or sleep medication may be warranted. Complications associated with PTSD may comprehend depression, substance abuse and alcoholism.
If you feel like you may be suffering from PTSD, contact your doctor immediately. This is not a situation that will simply “employment itself outside.”
Sweet Dreams,
Michael J. Breus, PhD
The Sleep Doctor™
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Everything you do, you do bigger with a excellent night’s sleep.™ Please visit www.thesleepdoctor.com. Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesleepdoctor
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