Sleep less in first few hours to avoid post traumatic stress

JERUSALEM - 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.