The effects of short-term sleep extension on emotion regulation in chronically sleep-deprived individuals /

Open in iSearch

Student Projects

2025

Okabe, Akira Basa

Hong Kong : The Education University of Hong Kong

Book

Objectives: Chronic sleep deprivation is a prevalent public health concern that impairs emotional functioning. This study investigated whether a two-week behavioral sleep extension intervention (combining psychoeducation, motivational interviewing, and actigraphy feedback) could (a) increase sleep duration in young adults habitually sleeping ≤6.5 hours/night, (b) improve emotion regulation strategies, and (c) reduce subjective reactivity to negative stimuli. Methods: Eleven participants (aged 18-29) completed Baseline, Sleep Hygiene, and Sleep Extension phases in a within-subject repeated-measures design. Sleep was measured objectively with actigraphy and subjectively through daily diaries; emotion regulation strategies were tracked via Ecological Momentary Assessments. Emotional reactivity was assessed pre- and post-intervention using valence (1 = pleasant, 9 = unpleasant) and arousal (1 = calm, 9 = excited) ratings of negative images in a lab-based Emotion Regulation Task. Results: H1 (Sleep Duration Increase) was supported, with objectively measured sleep rising from M = 5.15 hr at Baseline to M = 6.67 hr in the Extension phase (p < .001), and subjectively reported sleep from M = 5.65 hr to M = 7.37 hr (p < .001). Regression analyses (H2) showed that greater increases in sleep predicted significantly lower rumination (β = -.358, p = .016) and higher reappraisal (β = .317, p = .044), whereas suppression and acceptance did not significantly change. Emotional reactivity (H3) trended toward reductions in unpleasantness (p = .077) and arousal (p = .169) for negative stimuli, though these effects did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: A brief behavioral intervention increased both objective and subjective sleep, and selectively improved emotion regulation strategies-particularly rumination and reappraisal. Although reductions in emotional reactivity in the emotion regulation task were not statistically significant, consistent directional improvements suggest that extended sleep may beneficially influence responses to negative stimuli. Future research with larger samples and longer interventions is needed to fully clarify the impact of sleep extension on emotional reactivity

LG51.H43 hp BSS(Psy) 2025eb Okabeab

https://educoll.lib.eduhk.hk/records/ZdJ4RXHe