A new study reveals that adding 46 minutes of sleep can significantly improve mood and increase feelings of gratitude and positivity.
The study was conducted by researchers from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, USA, and was published last April 20 in the journal SLEEP, and its results were presented at the SLEEP 2024 annual meeting on June 5. The current one is in the city of Houston in the United States of America, and the EurekAlert website wrote about it.
The study included 90 adults who were randomly distributed into 3 groups: a group that would sleep late, a group that would sleep early, and the latter that would sleep normally during one work week. They were monitored, and the primary results were changes in condition and feelings of gratitude.
The results showed that mood disturbances improved in people who slept earlier, who slept 46 minutes longer per night, and reported greater feelings of gratitude.
On the other hand, mood disorders increased when sleeping at late times and when sleeping for shorter periods.
Gratitude is known in many different forms: it is an emotion, an attitude, a habit, a personality trait, or a coping response. As an emotion, people feel gratitude when they receive something of value from another person, and as a trait, gratitude is defined as the tendency to recognize and respond to the good in others.
“Survey data suggest that happiness has declined in the United States in recent years,” said lead researcher Michael Scullin, Ph.D., Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Sleep is widely known. Although it is known that lack of sleep worsens mental health symptoms, there have been no experimental studies to test whether increasing sleep improves positive aspects of life such as a sense of purpose, hope, and gratitude.
The effects of poor sleep health are well documented, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults get 7 hours of regular sleep per night to promote optimal health, productivity, and daytime alertness.
Scullin noted that experimentally increasing sleep led to improved mood and gratitude, which are at the heart of well-being and among the foundations of prosocial behaviors.
Scullin said that increasing sleep increases people’s gratitude and feelings of happiness in life.