Lack of a good night's sleep makes you a more selfish person, study reveals

What’s the study about?

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley conducted three separate studies to find out if lack of sleep makes people less likely to help each other.

The researchers also found out that in places where they lose an hour in the day because of daylight savings, people didn’t donate to charity as much because charitable donations decreased by 10%.

In a second experiment, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers compared the brain activity of 24 participants before and after eight hours of sleep.

This study discovered that following sleep deprivation, the prosocial neural network—the parts of the brain connected to the ability to consider other people's needs and emotions—was less active.

In the third part of the study, more than 100 participants had their sleep quality tested for three or four nights, then they answered questions about whether or not they would help other people.

It was discovered that poor sleep quality led to a “significant decrease in the desire to help other people.”

Why does this matter?

Matthew Walker, a co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley said sleep deprivation can cause a “clear hit on our innate human kindness and our motivation to help other people in need.”

Imagine a world where no one was willing to help. Well, that’s how the world will be if we don’t get enough night's sleep. Sleeping well at night improves your mood, health and makes the world a better place.