How Good Sleep Can Increase Positive Emotions?

You may have noticed on the day you don’t get enough sleep, you feel all the negative emotions like anger, frustration, and irritability. This tells how sleep has a major impact on your mood and emotions and, therefore, your life. Hence, people who struggle with getting a good night’s sleep look for solutions such as a specifically engineered weighted blanket for adult to ease anxiety or lavender tea for better sleep.

If you are wondering how much sleep is enough, it’s usually recommended to get seven to eight hours of sleep every night to help you lead a happy life. Even if you miss one or two hours of recommended sleep, it can have a drastic effect on your mood the other day.

You may be thinking, how does sleep affect your mood and emotions? Or even how getting quality sleep can increase positive emotions while stifling negative ones? If you are interested to know the science behind it, keep reading this article!

Lack of Sleep Contributes to Stress

When you don’t get an adequate amount of sleep, your body reacts like it’s in distress, and then it releases a stress hormone called cortisol. As the level of cortisol increases in your body, so does your stress.
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In return, this becomes a never-ending vicious cycle. The increased level of cortisol inhibits the release of sleep hormones called melatonin, which makes it harder for you to sleep at night.
Whereas, on the other hand, getting enough sleep can help you keep your stress levels low and at the same time lead a happy and healthy life.

Relationship Between Sleep and Mental Health

Having great mental health can help an individual live a prosperous life. If you also want to achieve the same, it’s important to know that sleep and mental health are related.
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As sleep deprivation has a major impact on your stress levels, it can also take a toll on your mental health with time. Not being able to achieve quality sleep every night may lead to all the negative emotions along with stress and if left untreated, it can cause anxiety and depression.

Good Sleep Keeps You Fit and Healthy

When you get enough sleep, it helps your body to boost your immune system as well. This, in return, keeps you protected from various diseases and infections such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and impaired memory.

In addition to this, adequate sleep overcomes the risk of obesity. The hormones that control your appetite perform well when you are not sleep-deprived, and this makes sure you don’t unnecessarily binge on food. This facilitates keeping your weight under control, too.
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All of this leads to positive emotions, as you will be fit and healthy to enjoy life and achieve more than you wish.

Sleep Impacts Your Productivity

Whether you are a student or an employee, it’s self-evident that sleep improves your relationships at school or work, while also allowing you to achieve more than required.

This can instil positive emotions like happiness and high levels of satisfaction and motivation. Getting the recommended amount of sleep allows your brain to reset itself during the nighttime to be able to perform well during the daytime.
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This means you will have fast reaction time, increased creativity levels, and cognitive skills to impress the people around you. In other words, you will be able to ace your tests or even get that promotion you have always dreamed of.

​Good Sleep Promotes Healthy Relationships

​A sleepless night can make you feel grumpy and easily irritated the entire day. This can prevent your loved ones such as your close friends or your family members from spending quality time with you. All of this can give rise to negative emotions like sadness, loneliness, and depression.

As opposed to this, a good amount of sleep promotes healthy relationships with your loved ones and this gives you a feeling of security, love, and happiness.

Tips on Getting Good Quality Sleep

In case you are struggling with getting an adequate amount and quality of sleep lately and this has caused you to feel anxious, sad, and disappointed, you can try some of the tips listed below.

Avoid junk food or caffeine. By evening, you should limit your intake of junk food and caffeine energy drinks or coffee, as they can disrupt your sleep at your bedtime.

Get rid of electronic devices. Whether it’s your tablet, computer, or phone, you should limit the use of blue light-emitting devices two to three hours before bedtime as they decrease the production of sleep hormones.    

Try relaxation techniques. If negative thoughts confuse your mind during sleep, you can try meditation before going to bed to clear up your mind. Journaling is another great option as well.

Create the perfect sleep environment. Whether it’s noise, light, uncomfortable mattress and pillow, or inadequate room temperature, you need to ensure they match your preference to avoid countless tosses and turns at night.