Enhanced emotional reactivity after selective REM sleep deprivation in humans: an fMRI study

Abstract

Converging evidence from animal and human studies suggest that rapid eye movement (REM) sleep modulates emotional processing. The aim of the present study was to explore the effects of selective REM sleep deprivation (REM-D) on emotional responses to threatening visual stimuli and their brain correlates using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty healthy subjects were randomly assigned to two groups: selective REM-D, by awakening them at each REM sleep onset, or non-rapid eye movement sleep interruptions (NREM-I) as control for potential non-specific effects of awakenings and lack of sleep. In a within-subject design, a visual emotional reactivity task was performed in the scanner before and 24 h after sleep manipulation. Behaviorally, emotional reactivity was enhanced relative to baseline (BL) in the REM deprived group only. In terms of fMRI signal, there was, as expected, an overall decrease in activity in the NREM-I group when subjects performed the task the second time, particularly in regions involved in emotional processing, such as occipital and temporal areas, as well as in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, involved in top-down emotion regulation. In contrast, activity in these areas remained the same level or even increased in the REM-D group, compared to their BL level. Taken together, these results suggest that lack of REM sleep in humans is associated with enhanced emotional reactivity, both at behavioral and neural levels, and thus highlight the specific role of REM sleep in regulating the neural substrates for emotional responsiveness.

One night of partial sleep deprivation affects habituation of hypothalamus and skin conductance responses

“…Moreover, SD has detrimental effects on emotional memory encoding (Walker 2008) and consolidation reliant on hippocampus and mPFC (Sterpenich et al 2007). Emotional memory consolidation has been associated with REM sleep (Nishida et al 2009;Walker and van der Helm 2009), whereas REM SD is related to amplified activity in areas central to emotional processing, including the mPFC (Rosales-Lagarde et al 2012). The lack of SCR or fMRI effects in our study does not preclude that our experimental manipulation may have more long-term memory-encoding or consolidation effects.…”

Slow dissolving of emotional distress contributes to hyperarousal

“…Least-squares regression lines (thick lines) and 95% confidence interval bounds (thin lines) of the association between insomnia severity and the frequency of occurrence of short-lasting (gray) and long-lasting (black) distress after a shameful experience are shown. emotional experiences, both subjectively and objectively, at the level of limbic brain reactivity (10,(12)(13)(14). We hypothesized that this beneficial effect may be attenuated in conditions characterized by restless REM sleep (5,17).…”

“…REM sleep plays an important role in this process (10,(12)(13)(14), although not excluding a role for nonrapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep (15). Naps containing REM sleep were shown to resolve emotional reactivity, whereas naps without REM sleep did not (12).…”

Sleep and Addictions

“…For example, Yoo, Gujar, Hu, Jolesz, and Walker (2007) found that sleep deprivation resulted in increased activation in the amygdala to negative emotional stimuli and dampened functional connectivity with the medial prefrontal cortex (Yoo et al, 2007). Thus, sleep deprivation both enhanced evoked NA associated with negatively valenced stimuli (see also Rosales-Lagarde et al, 2012) and impaired the capacity to downregulate this emotional response 3 .…”