Sleeping less makes people more selfish, research shows

Sleeping less affects the choice to help others and makes the human being more selfish, according to research carried out in the United States and published jointly in the scientific journal Plos Biology.

Produced by four researchers at the University of California, the scientific article released at the end of August brings together the results of three studies that characterize the effects of different degrees of sleep loss on behavioral, brain and social levels.

What Eti Ben Simon, Raphael Vallat, Aubrey Rossi and Matthew Walker found was that both total sleep deprivation, such as a sleepless night, and a modest reduction in rest time reduce solidarity.

In previous studies, researchers had already linked lack of sleep to loneliness and identified that it impairs the activity of the social cognition network, which is fundamental to understanding the needs and feelings of others and, consequently, having empathy. This led the group to wonder whether such an impact would result in a reduced willingness to help others, and thus the current research was born.

“When a person sleeps less than necessary, he becomes more selfish, withdraws from social life and chooses not to help others,” comment Simon and Walker. According to Absono (Associação Brasileira do Sono), it is difficult to characterize a normal pattern of hours because personal needs vary, but the general recommendation for adults is at least seven hours of rest.

“Sleep is fundamental to many basic systems of life. However, it is only recently that we discovered that lack of sleep radically alters how we are socially and emotionally, which can be pointed to as the very essence of human interaction and what it means to have an existence. full and satisfactory”, they evaluate.

In the first of three studies, researchers assessed the individual impact of missing a night’s rest and analyzed MRI images to understand the effects of sleep deprivation on the brain.

In it, 24 adults aged 18 to 26 were divided into two groups: one that would be monitored while sleeping and the other that would have to remain awake in the laboratory. Both were submitted to altruism questionnaires with questions such as “If I was in a hurry to get to work and someone stopped me to ask for information, I would…” and had the results evaluated.

In the end, 78% of those who couldn’t sleep showed significantly less desire to help others, whether familiar or strangers.

“We found that the underlying cause [à interferência do sono na solidariedade] is related to how the brain processes social information with and without sleep. Several brain regions that are triggered when we engage with other people or when we think about what others might want or need are much less active when we don’t sleep. In other words, our basic ability to consider other people’s needs is impaired by lack of sleep, and as a result, we effectively stop helping,” Simon and Walker explain.

In the second study, the researchers looked at the behavior of groups of people with reduced sleep hours for several nights in a row. The 136 participants had to answer questionnaires and write a kind of sleep diary for four days. Scientists observed that when individuals slept less, they became more selfish, whereas after a good night’s sleep, the same people were more willing to help.

In the third, on a national scale, they analyzed more than 3 million donations made in the United States between 2001 and 2016 and compared the patterns before and after the beginning of daylight saving time, when part of the population loses an hour of sleep. .

“The latest study was perhaps the most surprising for us. Even a very modest ‘dose’ of sleep deprivation — the loss of a single hour due to daylight saving time — has a measurable and real impact on people’s generosity,” they say. the scientists.

Sleep, however, is not the only factor that can impact donations. Edson Brito, marketing and institutional relations superintendent at AACD, believes that the Brazilian context lacks a culture of donation. “We have a solicitous, engaged people, but who do not have the commitment of regular donations”, he analyzes.

Researchers agree that the willingness to help others is influenced by other factors, including culture. But they point out that the results can be similar regardless of country, as research shows that disturbances in sleep quality affect personal initiative.

“We hope these findings carry the message that it’s time to reclaim our right to a full night’s rest, without embarrassment or the stigma of laziness. It’s time we started helping policymakers around the world promote sleep. “, argue the scientists.