Sleep deprivation in the
first few hours after exposure to a significantly stressful threat actually
reduces the risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to a study
by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and Tel Aviv
University.
The new study was
published in the international scientific journal, Neuropsychopharmacology. It revealed in a
series of experiments that sleep deprivation of approximately six hours
immediately after exposure to a traumatic event reduces the development of post
trauma-like behavioral responses. As a result, sleep deprivation the first
hours after stress exposure might represent a simple, yet effective,
intervention for PTSD.
The research was
conducted by Prof. Hagit Cohen, director of the Anxiety and Stress Research
Unit at BGU's Faculty of Health Sciences, in collaboration with Prof. Joseph
Zohar of Tel Aviv University.
Approximately 20 percent
of people exposed to a severe traumatic event, such as a car or work accident,
terrorist attack or war, cannot normally carry on their lives. These people
retain the memory of the event for many years. It causes considerable
difficulties in the person's functioning in daily life and, in extreme cases,
may render the individual completely dysfunctional.
"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," says Prof. Cohen. "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."
In the experiments, rats
that underwent sleep deprivation after exposure to trauma (predator scent
stress exposure), later did not exhibit behavior 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 behavior.
"As is the case for
human populations exposed to severe stress, 15 to 20 percent of the animals
develop long-term disruptions in their behavior," says Cohen. "Our
research method for this study is, we believe, a breakthrough in biomedical
research."
A pilot study in humans
is currently being planned. The studies were funded by a Israel Academy of
Science and Humanities grant and the Israel Ministry of Health.
