Maybe Archie Bunker just needed to catch some shuteye. Missing sleep may make you more likely to stereotype, suggests new research in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Losing sleep depletes some of your self-control, and thus widens the gaps in your bigotry filter, says study author Sonia Ghumman, Ph.D., of the University of Hawaii at Mamoa. The less you rest, the worse you become at regulating the prejudices you know are wrong, Ghumman says.
The study raises another, broader question: Why are people so cranky when they’re tired? Without adequate sleep, your thought processes, memory, and learning are all impaired, which forces you to confront the demands of your day with constrained resources, explains W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the Sleep Medicine Center at Martha Jefferson Hospital.
While those deficiencies are enough to put anyone in a foul mood, Dr. Winter says there’s also some evidence of increased activity in the amygdala, which regulates emotions like anger and rage, in the sleep-challenged. The way your brain communicates with the amygdala after persistent poor sleep not only fosters negative emotions, but leaves you less capable of controlling those bad feelings, Dr. Winter adds.
Not sleeping well? Vitamin or nutrient deficiencies may be partly to blame. Research shows lycopene from tomatoes, vitamin C from fruit, and selenium from Brazil nuts are all helpful sleep regulators. Click here for The Better Sleep Diet.
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