It’s not the hormones or the lack thereof that makes us anxious and sleep-deprived; it’s the fact that when we get older we don’t get the sleep we used to.
In many sleep disorders, there are a small number of cases that have an overlap with the anxiety disorder known as hypnagogic hallucinations. These cases can present in the same way as hypnagogic hallucinations but are due to age-related changes in the brain. This is the case with hyperexcitable arousal circuits, where we get a surge of hormones when we get sleepy. This can lead to feelings of a false sense of well being that comes from a lack of sleep.
A great example of hyperexcitable arousal circuits is the experience of having a nightmare. Nightmares are the most common type of dream. Nightmares are often described as vivid and intense. But when we wake up from a nightmare, the brain can feel completely normal. It can feel as if we’ve had a full night of rest. It can even be difficult to fall back to sleep after a nightmare.
What causes a dream to become hyperexcitable? The brain has a set of neurons that fire only when a certain hormone is in high supply. The brain’s reward centers are a perfect example. They are so powerful that they can actually block the receptors for the other hormones involved in the sleep-inducing process. This is why we can have a dream where we literally can’t fall back to sleep after the nightmare.
The brain creates the hyperexcitable arousal circuits around its reward centers in the hours before sleep. The brain is still working the night before sleep to get rid of the hormones involved in the dream. If you’re waking up too soon after a nightmare, waking up and finding yourself in a dream state, your brain will still be trying to get rid of the hormones it thinks are causing the problem.
You can also have your brain creating hyperexcitable arousal circuits for you while you sleep. This may be the most common way to cause sleep problems with age, and it has been linked to an increased risk of depression and insomnia. The hyperexcitable arousal circuits act as a kind of alarm bell for your brain to alert it that something is wrong.
The good news is that, unlike a regular alarm, hyperexcitable arousal circuits don’t need a device to act. They just need to be activated by the brain being woken up and then causing the problem. The bad news is that they also can start to cause insomnia and depression.
If you’re a college student, you are probably thinking, “Oh my god, I am never going to sleep again.” This is completely understandable. It’s not like you are really going to be able to sleep all night long. But then again, you probably wont be sleeping much anyway.
A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience found that the brain activity of young people who were in a sleep deprivation state for 24 hours were more likely to have decreased arousal responses. They also had higher levels of anxiety and depression. This leads us to wonder if sleep deprivation could actually cause a higher risk of depression since people with depression were found to have a higher rate of sleep-deprivation like conditions.
Another study found that during sleep deprivation, the brain activity of young people was more likely to have decreased arousal response. It’s possible that these young people had a higher risk of depression while sleeping.