Sleep has important effects on memory.
Going to bed angry really does make it worse, new research finds.
Sleeping after making a fresh bad memory, can give that memory more strength.
Yunzhe Liu, the study’s first author, said:
“This study suggests that there is certain merit in this age-old advice: ‘Do not go to bed angry’.
We would suggest to first resolve (the) argument before… bed.”
In the study 73 students were purposefully given negative memories.
The results showed that it was much more difficult to suppress these negative memories after sleep.
The study may help in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The study’s authors write:
“For example, sleep deprivation immediately after traumatic experiences may prevent traumatic memories from being consolidated… and thus provide the opportunity to block the formation of traumatic memories.”
The study was published in the journal Nature Communications (Liu et al., 2016).
Sleep image from Shutterstock
