Going to bed early can help you worry less

A new study has revealed that when a person goes to bed and how long they sleep at a time affects how much they worry.

According to Jacob Nota and Meredith Coles of Binghamton University in the US, people who sleep for shorter periods of time and go to bed very late at night are often overwhelmed with more negative thoughts than those who keep more regular sleeping hours.

The study revealed that people are said to have repetitive negative thinking when they have bothersome pessimistic thoughts that seem to repeat in their minds and feel as though they have little control over these contemplations.

They also tend to worry excessively about the future, delve too much into the past, and experience annoying intrusive thoughts. Such thoughts are often typical of people suffering from generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and social anxiety disorder. These individuals also tend to have sleep problems.

The researchers also said that sleep disruption may be linked to the development of repetitive negative thinking and that it might benefit people who are at risk of developing a disorder characterized by such intrusive thoughts to focus on getting enough sleep.

The study was published in Springer's journal Cognitive Therapy and Research.