This is perhaps a very abnormal article for me, I shall keep it brief. When I was having a hard discussion with someone I love, a very important rule of damage mitigation popped up for me. I desire to not sound too dotting or saccharine; but love and friendship are significant, particularly on a sociological level (which is why I am so opposed to mass immigration and a low-social trust society). We are prosocial animals– but we do not act in the best interest of the group under all circumstances. No, we act in the best interest of our friends! Friendship and loving those around us is absolutely the most important thing and the profound isolation that liberalism entails is so gutturally destructive— regardless, this is a preface to my little ramble on some highlights of sleep, specifically pertaining to emotional processing.
Whenever I have hard conversations or am hurt by someone I love; despite the dire, gut wrenching hurt of the present– we must sleep on it. Discussion with loved ones is crucial as to not build resentment– but callous words must never be said in haste. When something hurts, I wait. I sleep. I wake up, and I address it. A healthy person who is receiving this information of hurt also perhaps should follow the same rule– we talk, and guilt is sharp. So they sleep, and we come together the next day. This must be built, anxiety destroys relationships. People are imperfect. We say things and do things that hurt sometimes– and that’s to be expected. But it must be nurtured appropriately! Onwards.
A little dive into the science of it
When being shown emotionally aversive images, in sleep deprived conditions states amygdala reactivity increases 60% (Yoo). As interesting as that is, what is more relevant is the “emotional pruning” of memories after sleep. The emotional experience is coded, but the reactivation of the emotionality of the lived experience is dulled (Van der Helm). The authors of this analysis describe it as we sleep to forget the emotional tone, but we sleep to remember tagged memories of the episode.
REM sleep seems crucial to the emotional dulling. This is why coping with alcohol or weed is so catastrophic, that nuking of REM sleep could cause that emotional tone to linger. REM sleep predominates towards the morning, which is why waking up early to an alarm can be so devastating to emotional processing (Wurts). REM is not only where emotional processing heeds, but it also supports neurotransmitter synthesis (Feriante.)It seems like almost everyone I know is waking up to an alarm, and then gets their rebound sleep on the weekend– but this is a devastating pattern eating away at your longevity and learning. Weekend rebound sleep does not seem to fully compensate for lost REM (Von Gall). This study also elucidated the importance of a consistent sleep / wake cycle for preservation of REM.
In PTSD, the REM decoupling of emotionality from experiences seems to fail– as the trauma is so great (Harvey.) A type of beta blockers are used in PTSD patients to mitigate the adrenergic overactivation during REM sleep and allow the emotional decoupling from experiences. Beta blockers when administered during a learning session decrease recall, which is relevant as subsequent administration after a traumatizing experience could potentially aid in the decoupling of the intense emotionality from the experience. Biohacking trauma? Well it’s good to know I guess, I hope I won’t have an application for this.
This little ramble was certainly a tad all over the place but hopefully it serves as a reminder to just sleep on it. I have struggled immensely with insomnia in the past so I intend on doing an insomnia deep dive in the future, let me know your thoughts.
Sources
Yoo SS, Gujar N, Hu P, et al. The human emotional brain without sleep – a prefrontal amygdala disconnect. Curr Biol. 2007;17:R877. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2007.08.007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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Wurts, S. W., and Edgar, D. M. (2000). Circadian and homeostatic control of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep: promotion of REM tendency by the suprachiasmatic nucleus. J. Neurosci. 20, 4300–4310.
von Gall, C.; Holub, L.; Pfeffer, M.; Eickhoff, S. Chronotype-Dependent Sleep Loss Is Associated with a Lower Amplitude in Circadian Rhythm and a Higher Fragmentation of REM Sleep in Young Healthy Adults. Brain Sci. 2023, 13, 1482. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13101482
Feriante J, Singh S. REM Rebound Effect. [Updated 2024 Sep 12]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan