Research has shown the numerous positive benefits that come with good sleep habits. Now, a new study from Baylor University shows that even subtle changes in the amount of sleep—in fact, only 46 extra minutes of sleep per night—are linked to improvements to overall well-being, including a beneficial impact on a person's gratitude, flourishing, resilience and prosocial behaviors.

 

The study, "Gratitude, Flourishing, and Prosocial Behaviors Following Experimental Sleep Restriction and Sleep Extension," is published in the Journal of Positive Psychology.

 

Alexander Do conducted the research for his Honors thesis, advised by principal investigator Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology and neuroscience and director of Baylor's Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory, and Sarah Schnitker, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Science of Virtues Lab and BRIGHTS Center. Together, they explored the impact of sleep on mental well-being by observing how an increase in sleep duration influences positive psychology outcomes.

 

Previous sleep research has focused on the negative effects of sleep deprivation. This study shifts the focus by applying a positive psychology framework, considering how sleep can actively enhance well-being rather than merely avoiding adverse outcomes. Gratitude, resilience and flourishing are typically viewed as personality traits that support good sleep, but Do's research investigated the reverse hypothesis—whether sleep itself can enhance these positive states.

 

"Alex did an excellent job coming up with a novel thesis idea, which built a bridge between the work that he had been doing in my sleep lab for two years prior and a new area that would expand the sleep field in a meaningful way," Scullin said. "His research question on the relationship between sleep, gratitude, and flourishing initiated a research collaboration. Before this project, Dr. Schnitker and I hadn't worked together."

 

"This study is exciting because it expands what we know about the health effects of sleep restriction and extension to include variables related to forming flourishing moral communities," Schnitker said.

 

Research findings

 

The research investigated 90 young adults who were randomly assigned to late bedtimes, early bedtimes, or to sleep normally across a single workweek (monitored by actigraphy) to examine if improved sleep could bolster mental well-being, changes in state and trait feelings of flourishing, resilience and gratitude, and behavioral expressions of gratitude in a journal.

 

Results showed that participants who extended their sleep showed marked improvements in resilience, gratitude and overall flourishing. "We saw that people who increased their sleep by 46 minutes a night ended up feeling more resilience, gratitude, life satisfaction, and purpose in life," Scullin said.

 

Participants who restricted their sleep experienced the opposite effect with declines in the same feelings, suggesting that even minor sleep losses may negatively influence mental health and social behaviors. "When people were cut back on sleep by a mild average of 37 minutes a night, they experienced drops in mood, resilience, flourishing and gratitude," Scullin said.

 

Although sleep manipulations can affect the mood of a participant, the improvements in resilience, gratitude and flourishing were not fully explained by mood changes. This suggests that the benefits of more sleep had a greater effect on overall well-being beyond current moods and outlooks.

 

Do said gratitude can be recognized better when individuals have hope and a purpose in life, while sleep increases feelings of both as well as resilience and flourishing.

 

"It turns out that getting more sleep has a broader influence than just feeling more alert during the day," Scullin said. "Better sleep helps you to have a clear vision for your life and to be more resilient to the challenges that could happen tomorrow."

 

Sleep for prosocial behaviors

 

The study also highlighted the importance of sleep health not only for individual well-being but for broader societal benefits as well. The researchers found that sleep influences prosocial behaviors, noting that well-rested individuals showed increased expressions of gratitude and a more positive social outlook. Although subtle, these variations in sleep could have broader implications for community behaviors, such as charitable giving.

 

"If you induce feelings of flourishing, then people are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors in helping others in charitable giving and civic engagements," Scullin said. "We conducted a separate survey study of 2,837 adult participants with an average age of 55. We found that people who were sleeping 7 to 9 hours a day and those who reported good sleep quality were 7% to 45% more likely to donate charitably."

 

That study was published in the journal Sleep Medicine.

 

The findings emphasize the importance of sleep in promoting and enhancing well-being and suggest potential targets for future research and interventions.