Adherence
Accumulating sleep debt (4 hours time-in-bed over 5 days) diminishes functional connectivity between the amygdala and the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC), which downregulates the amygdala's functional suppression and enhances its response to negative emotional stimuli (fear), leading to increased anxiety and mood deterioration.
Consistently restricting your sleep to around 4 hours a night for several days will likely increase your anxiety and emotional reactivity to stress. This happens because your brain's ability to regulate fear responses (specifically the connection between the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex) is weakened. To maintain emotional stability, prioritize getting adequate sleep (around 8 hours) rather than just managing sleepiness.
The results of this study suggest that continuous and accumulating sleep debt that can be experienced in everyday life can downregulate the functional suppression of the amygdala by the vACC and consequently enhance the response of the amygdala to negative emotional stimuli.
Why this rating
Randomized crossover design with objective fMRI and polysomnography, but small sample size (n=14) and male-only cohort limit generalizability.
Source
Sleep Debt Elicits Negative Emotional Reaction through Diminished Amygdala-Anterior Cingulate Functional Connectivity
Yuki Motomura et al. · PLoS ONE · 2013
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