Lack of Sleep may lead to increase in risk of False Memories

Sleep is a very important part of everyone’s daily routine. Sleep disorders or less amount of sleep than usual can lead you to several forms of diseases. Health experts also recommend a good amount of sleep for every age group and gender for a healthy being.

A new study carried by the researchers at the University of California has found that people who are deprived of proper sleep have huge chances of encountering memory related problem. The study shows they are more likely to develop false memories than those who have sufficient sleep.

For the study, the researchers involved 104 young people who were of college-going age. The participants were divided into four groups. The researchers asked the first two groups to look at pictures of a crime scene as soon as they arrived. Another batch of participants was given the same photos the following morning.

 

Then the researchers asked half of the lot to go to sleep, while another half was asked to stay awake all night. The study investigators tested all the participants on the basis of their recalling power and the details of the photos that they gave in the following morning.

The participants of the second group, who were sleep deprived, only viewed the images, read the narratives and were asked to take the memory test after having stayed awaken whole night.

One of the study researchers said, “Upon completion of the study we found that only those participants who had been sleep deprived during the experiment had great chances of reporting the false details.”

According to the researchers, sleep for five hours or less was linked to formation of false memories.

The findings of the study were published in the journal Psychological Science.