Being Puyat All The Time Can Make You Feel Lonely, Says Rese…

Sleeping less isn’t only affecting your health.  IMAGE iStock 

 

 

By now, you’re already well-aware that a lack of sleep can cause serious health issues, but what you probably didn’t know is it doesn’t only affect your body—it affect your relationships as well as your chances in love, and in this case, it can make you feel lonely.

 

In a new study from the University of California featured on The Sleep Doctor, researchers found that sleep-deprived people are inclined to keep their distance from others and avoid interactions, similar to those dealing with social anxiety. At first, it may sound normal—who doesn’t have those lazy days in the office when you just can’t be bothered by anyone, right? But, if you’re constantly puyat, research showed it may make you socially “undesirable” to your peers, which creates a cycle of isolation and loneliness. What’s more, it was found that even well-rested individuals feel lonely after coming across a sleepless person, suggesting that the effect of poor sleep is also contagious.

 

Senior author Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience explained: “The less sleep you get, the less you want to socially interact. In turn, other people perceive you as more socially repulsive, further increasing the grave social-isolation impact of sleep loss. That vicious cycle may be a significant contributing factor to the public health crisis that is loneliness.”

 

If you can’t help but be puyat on some days, Walker added that you can compensate for the lack of snooze with just one good night’s sleep. It’ll be enough to make you “feel more outgoing and socially confident and, furthermore, will attract others to you.” 

 

Of course, to fight puyat, you also need to get quality of sleep. Here are a couple of things you can do that can help:

 

 

Invest in a good mattress 

A huge factor in having a good night’s sleep is a comfy, quality mattress. Remember, you sleep on it every single night for at least seven hours so don’t think twice about investing in this household item (as we’ve previously reported, almost one out of three people experience back and neck pains because of an old, sagging mattress).  

 

TRY: Uratex Premium Senso Memory Ultima Plus mattress, available at Uratex outlets. This mattress is made of a cooling knit fabric and a memory foam that you’ll want to sink into after a long work day.

 

 

Track your sleep cycle

Consider downloading sleep-tracking apps or investing in gadgets that can monitor your sleeping patterns and guide you on how to improve your sleep.

 

We’ve recently tested out Fitbit’s Versa Lite, a fitness tracker which comes with a sleep monitoring feature.

 

Here’s how it works:

 

IMAGE Patricia Melliza 

 

 

Using the app, it reveals the different sleep stages your body goes through as you sleep (including how much time you spend in each stage):

 

Light sleep (Stage 1 and 2) – This is the time when you’ve actually just fallen asleep, and it is also when you can still easily be woken up by your surroundings. This stage is good for memory and learning.

 

Deep sleep (Stage 3) – This is the time when your body relaxes and recovers (especially from workouts). The deeper sleep you get, the more energized and refreshed you feel the next day.  

 

REM sleep – This is a vital stage of sleeping as it helps with your mental restoration. It’s also the time when you’re vividly dreaming.

 

 

Patricia Melliza  

 

 

As much as possible, you want to get long periods of deep and REM sleep. But if results show that you don’t, you can adjust your habits from there to get a quality sleep; you can switch up your hours of rest (the app will recommend a personalized sleeping schedule that you can stick to). The app will also suggest a few tweaks to your lifestyle, such as avoiding coffee late in the afternoon and the like. 

 

TRY: Fitbit Versa Lite Edition, P1,790 to P1,990

 

 

*****

 

This story originally appeared on FemaleNetwork.com.

* Minor edits have been made by the Entrepreneur.com.ph editors.