It has long been known that a sleepless night can lead to the fact that a sleepy person will be very moody and in a bad mood all day. But not everyone knows that insomnia can cause the opposite effect – the effect of short-term euphoria, which makes a person short-sighted, too excited, capable of unpredictable actions. This behavior is called deviant, that is, beyond the normal. Such a study was conducted by scientists from the University of California in conjunction with Harvard Medical School.
Researchers studied the effects of insomnia on the brains of young healthy people and found that after they didn’t get enough sleep or sleep at night, their pleasure centers, which are located in the brain, became more susceptible to certain types of hormones and substances. The nerve paths along which electric impulses pass are after an sleepless night in an excited state, which is necessary to maintain night activity. Therefore, a person in this state is prone to euphoria, which, in turn, pushes people to risky actions. In this state, a person is more likely than ever to commit crimes.
This discovery is very important, the researchers say that people associated with responsible professions (surgeons, doctors, pilots) must get enough sleep before a working day or an important operation, taking off by plane, since the lives of other people depend on them. And in a sleepy state, these people cannot make wise, balanced decisions, they are prone to risk. Scientists also found an explanation for one phenomenon: people with clinical mood disorders feel much better after a sleepless night. This is also explained by increased excitation of the nervous system.