Why is sleep essential for a healthy relationship?

Relationships on built on trust, communication, and a good night’s rest!

Many of us have first-hand experience of the impact sleep can have on our mood. Not only can a bad night’s sleep make you more forgetful, less energetic, and, of course, more tired, but it can also put you in a bad mood for the rest of the day.

From angry outbursts to isolating yourself, sleep deprivation has a significant impact on your ability to regulate your mood and socialise with others. Ultimately, this can put a strain on your relationships.

Whether seeing friends and family or just spending a day at home with your partner, you’ll notice a difference in your mood and behaviour if you fail to sleep well the night before. We’re taking a closer look at why sleep is important for your relationship.

Sleep helps you avoid loneliness

In a study published in Nature Communications, researchers scanned the brains of participants after they’d slept normally, and after sleep deprivation. They were also asked to watch a video of a stranger approaching them, and press a button when they felt they were too close to them. When participants were sleep deprived, they pressed the button far quicker, and their brain activity displayed much higher levels of social repulsion and lower levels of social curiosity.

Sleep-deprived individuals also reported feeling lonelier, which reflects the common conception among sleep experts that lonely people struggle to sleep, and vice versa.

Good rest helps you empathise with others

Sleep can also impact our ability to recognise and empathise with other people’s feelings, as poor sleep impacts areas of the brain associated with emotional empathy. Studies reflect this, with one published in the European Journal of Neuroscience finding that people who reported better sleep found it easier to recognise the emotions displayed by people in photographs. Struggling to empathise with and understand other people’s feelings can put a significant strain on relationships, making arguments more likely.

Sleep keeps your anger and aggression in check

Speaking of arguments, we all know that a lack of sleep can make you more irritable, but it’s not uncommon for this to escalate into anger and aggression.

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology asked participants to complete a difficult task while listening to an aversive noise, after restricting their sleep for two days. Those who were sleep deprived became far angrier during the test.

On top of this, statistics from the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma show that women who sleep poorly are more frequently aggressive towards their partners, while another study found that children who sleep poorly are more likely to bully other children at school.

Sleep makes you more open-minded

It may sound farfetched, but research has shown that we’re less likely to judge others harshly when we’re well rested. This makes sense, given that we’ve already explored how sleep can help us be less aggressive and more empathetic.

A study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that sleeping less made participants more likely to stereotype others, particularly if they already held negative connotations of a group. Adding to this, a 2017 study into sleep and behaviour found that ‘morning people’ were more likely to adhere to stereotypical thinking at night when they were fatigued, while the reverse was true of ‘night owls’.

By setting a sleep schedule, unwinding before bed, and keeping your bedroom cool and dark, you can improve your sleep health in the long term. This, in turn, will help you enjoy happier and healthier relationships with the people you care about the most.

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