Sleep less in first few hours to avoid post traumatic stress
Daily Excelsior
09:06 PM Jul 29, 2012 IST
JERUSALEM, July 28:Next time you decide to �sleep on� a problem, you might have to think twice!According to a study, sleep deprivation in the first few hours after exposure to a stressful threat actually reduces the risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Tel Aviv University found that sleep deprivation of approximately six hours immediately after exposure to a traumatic event reduces the development of post trauma-like behavioural responses.The new study was published in the international scientific journal, Neuropsychopharmacology.The research was conducted by Professor Hagit Cohen, director of the Anxiety and Stress Research Unit at BGU�s Faculty of Health Sciences, in collaboration with Professor Joseph Zohar of Tel Aviv University.�Often those close to someone exposed to a traumatic event, including medical teams, seek to relieve the distress and assume that it would be best if they could rest and �sleep on it,� Cohen said.�Since memory is a significant component in the development of post-traumatic symptoms, we decided to examine the various effects of sleep deprivation immediately after exposure to trauma,� he said.In the experiments, rats that underwent sleep deprivation after exposure to trauma (predator scent stress exposure), later did not exhibit behaviour indicating memory of the event, while a control group of rats that was allowed to sleep after the stress exposure did remember, as shown by their post trauma-like behaviour.�As is the case for human populations exposed to severe stress, 15 to 20 per cent of the animals develop long-term disruptions in their behaviour,� Cohen said. (PTI)
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