Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research
Palmer, C. A., Bower, J. L., Cho, K. W., Clementi, M. A., Lau, S., Oosterhoff, B., & Alfano, C. A. (2024). Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research.
Supports the claims that all forms of experimental sleep loss reduced positive affect, increased anxiety symptoms and blunted arousal in response to emotional stimuli, while findings for negative affect and depressive symptoms were mixed. Preregistered; acute laboratory sleep loss in healthy samples.
Who was studied
154 experimental studies (1,338 effect sizes, 5,717 healthy participants aged 7 to 79) of total sleep deprivation, partial restriction or fragmentation.
Design
Meta-analysis
Level of evidence
Syntheses of controlled studies: meta-analyses and systematic reviews of experiments and trials.
Claims that rest on it
Each claim states what the site asserts, at what strength, and with what caveat.
EmpiricalLevel AConfidence HIGH
Experimental sleep loss in healthy people reduces positive affect and increases anxiety symptoms, while effects on negative affect, emotional reactivity and depressive symptoms are mixed and depend on the type of sleep loss.
Scope
Total sleep deprivation, partial restriction and fragmentation over short periods in healthy participants aged 7 to 79.
Caveat
Short laboratory manipulations; the pattern for negative affect and reactivity is not uniform, and chronic real-life sleep problems may differ.
Last reviewed · Review due · sleep-loss-reduces-positive-affect
Sources
Palmer, C. A., Bower, J. L., Cho, K. W., Clementi, M. A., Lau, S., Oosterhoff, B., & Alfano, C. A. (2024). Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research. doi:10.1037/bul0000410
Level AMeta-analysis
Supports the claims that all forms of experimental sleep loss reduced positive affect, increased anxiety symptoms and blunted arousal in response to emotional stimuli, while findings for negative affect and depressive symptoms were mixed. Preregistered; acute laboratory sleep loss in healthy samples.
Tomaso, C. C., Johnson, A. B., & Nelson, T. D. (2021). The effect of sleep deprivation and restriction on mood, emotion, and emotion regulation: Three meta-analyses in one. doi:10.1093/sleep/zsaa289
Level AMeta-analysis
Supports the claims that sleep loss increased negative mood (g = 0.45), decreased positive mood (g = -0.94) and had a small negative effect on adaptive emotion regulation (g = -0.32), with no significant effect on maladaptive regulation. The regulation findings came from youth samples only.
TheoreticalLevel DConfidence LOW
A model proposes that sleep, including REM sleep, modulates next-day emotional reactivity and reprocesses recent emotional memories; it remains a hypothesis under test.
Scope
Proposed neural and psychological account of sleep and emotion.
Caveat
Later meta-analytic evidence that sleep loss blunts arousal responses complicates simple accounts of heightened reactivity; neural findings are associations with measured activity.
Last reviewed · Review due · overnight-emotional-processing-hypothesis
Sources
Walker, M. P., & van der Helm, E. (2009). Overnight therapy? The role of sleep in emotional brain processing. doi:10.1037/a0016570
Level DReview
Supports the claim that a model has been proposed in which sleep, including REM sleep, modulates next-day emotional reactivity and reprocesses recent emotional memories. A hypothesis-generating review; the model is contested and not established.
Palmer, C. A., Bower, J. L., Cho, K. W., Clementi, M. A., Lau, S., Oosterhoff, B., & Alfano, C. A. (2024). Sleep loss and emotion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of over 50 years of experimental research. doi:10.1037/bul0000410
Level AMeta-analysis
Supports the claims that all forms of experimental sleep loss reduced positive affect, increased anxiety symptoms and blunted arousal in response to emotional stimuli, while findings for negative affect and depressive symptoms were mixed. Preregistered; acute laboratory sleep loss in healthy samples.