A person’s negative emotional response to a strong stress is greatly reduced if he/she goes to bed immediately after the unpleasant event.
A study conducted at the University of Massachusetts (USA) showed that sleeping is the best medicine for the people with posttraumatic stress disorders. For example, if a person has become an unwitting witness to a car accident or he/she has been involved in it, the emotional response after sleeping is significantly different from the state in which the person is immediately after having experienced an unpleasant event.
The participants of the study were shown pictures on the computer and were asked to rate them according to such characteristics as “sad” or “cheerful”. Twelve hours later (after sleeping), they were shown a mix of new and the same images, and then the results were compared. It was found that the emotional background of the participants of the experiment, who were perceiving pictures, had improved. In addition, they quickly memorized the subjects, shown there.
