Editor choice: Let it rest: Sleep and health as positive correlates of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness

Abstract

Objective: The present study examined forgiveness of others, self-forgiveness, sleep, and health in a nationally representative sample of United States adults. It was hypothesised that sleep would mediate the associations of forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness with health. Design: A nationally representative sample of 1,423 United States adults participated in a survey. Main Outcome Measures: Measures included forgiveness of others, self-forgiveness, sleep quantity, sleep quality, psychological distress, life satisfaction, and self-rated physical health. Results: Forgiveness of others (Beta = .20, p < .001) and self-forgiveness (Beta = .11, p < .01) predicted sleep and forgiveness of others (Beta = .24, p < .001) and self-forgiveness (Beta = .27, p < .001) predicted health. Sleep predicted health (Beta = .45, p < .001) and also acted as a mediator of the associations of forgiveness of others (Beta = .09, p < .01) and self-forgiveness (Beta = .05, p < .01) with health. Conclusions: Forgiveness of others and self-forgiveness may attenuate emotions such as anger, regret, and rumination and to provide a buffer between one's own and others' offenses occurring during the day and offer a restful mental state that supports sound sleep which, in turn, is associated with better health.

Towards a psychology of divine forgiveness.

“…As might be expected, DF correlates with measures of religion (e.g., Bassett, Carrier, Charleson, et al, 2016; Walker & Gorsuch, 2002) and spirituality (e.g., Lyons, Deane, Caputi, & Kelly, 2011). In fact, national surveys show that DF is related not only to being religiously affiliated (Toussaint & Williams, 2008), but also to levels of religiosity (e.g., Escher, 2013; Toussaint & Williams, 2008). There is also evidence to show how prayer that includes asking for God’s forgiveness predicts interpersonal forgiveness and relationship healing (Wuthnow, 2000).…”

“…Sex differences in feeling forgiven by God exist. Compared with men, women report higher levels of DF (Chou & Liska, 2013; Hayward & Krause, 2013; Toussaint & Williams, 2008). In a Mormon sample, birth order was related to DF with first-borns seeing God as more forgiving (Chou & Liska, 2013).…”

Compassionate reappraisal and rumination impact forgiveness, emotion, sleep, and prosocial accountability

“…Recent research showed that at the trait level, people who were more forgiving also slept better ( Toussaint et al, 2019 ). Other research found that the forgiveness and sleep relationship was mediated by lower levels of rumination and negative affect ( Stoia-Caraballo et al, 2008 ).…”

“…1 Better baseline sleep quality and sleep quantity would have a significant inverse relationship with trait rumination and negative affect in accordance with research by Mellman (2006) , but a direct relationship with trait self-regulation, forgiveness, and flourishing in the past month. The latter hypotheses extend from research on sleep and its beneficial associations with self-regulation ( Barber et al, 2013 ), emotion regulation ( Palmer and Alfano, 2017 ; Vandekerckhove and Wang, 2018 ), emotional processing ( Tempesta et al, 2018 ), forgiveness ( Toussaint et al, 2019 ), and quality of life ( Léger et al, 2001 ).…”

“…Further, experiments testing forgiving processes and inducing more forgiving states also induced calmer and less negative emotion while subduing associated physiological reactivity (see Witvliet et al, 2020 for a review). Large-scale representative research via survey in the US has associated forgiveness with better sleep ( Toussaint et al, 2019 ). Sleep comprises a quarter to a third of people’s lives, is essential for optimal physical health ( Grandner, 2017 ), mental health ( Matsumoto et al, 2011 ; Buysse, 2014 ), emotional processing ( Tempesta et al, 2018 ), self-regulation ( Barber et al, 2013 ), and emotional regulation ( Palmer and Alfano, 2017 ; Vandekerckhove and Wang, 2018 ).…”