Sleep Deprivation Leads To Loneliness, Social Rejection: Study

BERKELEY, CA — If you want to liven up your social life and add joy to your friendships, the key could be a good night's sleep.

Recently published research from the University of California, Berkeley, reveals that sleep-deprived people feel lonelier and less likely to engage with others. That vibe makes sleep-deprived people more socially unattractive to others. And the news gets even worse -- well-rested people feel lonely after just a brief encounter with a sleep-deprived person, meaning that loneliness is contagious.

"We humans are a social species. Yet sleep deprivation can turn us into social lepers," said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience, and the senior author of the study.

The researchers used brain scans to see which areas of the brain engaged when show video clips of strangers walking toward them.

"The less sleep you get, the less you want to socially interact. In turn, other people perceive you as more socially repulsive, further increasing the grave social-isolation impact of sleep loss," Walker added.

So, how do you test whether sleep-loss-induced alienation is contagious? Researchers had observers rate their own levels of loneliness after watching videos of study participants. The startling result was that otherwise healthy observers felt alienated after viewing a one minute clip of a lonely person.

Researchers also found that a single night's sleep could impact the results.

"On a positive note, just one night of good sleep makes you feel more outgoing and socially confident, and furthermore, will attract others to you," Walker said.

The study is published in the online journal "Nature Communications."

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