Restless nights, cold hearts: Poor sleep causally blunts empathy.

ABSTRACT: Poor sleep is pervasive in modern society. Poor sleep is associated with major physical and mental health consequences, as well as with impaired cognitive function. Less is known about the relationship between sleep and emotional and interpersonal behavior. In this work, we investigate whether poor sleep impairs empathy, an important building block of human interaction and prosocial behavior. We aimed to capture the effects of poor sleep on the various aspects of empathy: trait and state, affect and cognition. Study 1 (n = 155) assessed daily habitual sleep over several days, and global sleep quality in the past month. Participants who reported worse sleep quality exhibited lower empathic caring and perspective-taking traits. Study 2 (n = 347) induced a one-night disruption of sleep contin

SUBMITTER: Gordon-Hecker T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11848082 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan-Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature