Sleep deprivation can contribute to a host of mental and physical problems, including depression, diabetes, and impaired cognitive functioning.
Now, research from the University of California (UC), Berkeley has linked sleep deprivation to another effect: social isolation.
According to the study’s senior author, Prof. Matthew Walker, “We humans are a social species. Yet sleep deprivation can turn us into social lepers.”
The findings — which appeared in the journal Nature Communications — indicate that, on the one hand, people who have experienced sleep loss are less eager to interact with others.
