-
@ The Modern Sovereign
2025-05-15 11:54:26
Why REM Sleep Might Be the Secret to Reading People Better
Have you ever felt more emotionally "in tune" with others after a good night's sleep? It turns out REM sleep—the dream-rich phase of your sleep cycle—may play a surprising role in how well you read micro expressions in people's faces.
Micro expressions are those fleeting, involuntary facial movements that reveal a person’s true emotions, even when they’re trying to hide them. They're powerful cues in social interaction, and our ability to spot them relies heavily on our brain’s emotional processing networks.
REM sleep is crucial for exactly that. During REM, the brain processes and consolidates emotional memories and refines our ability to interpret social cues. Research suggests that people who get sufficient REM sleep show greater sensitivity to emotional expressions and are better at detecting subtle changes in facial muscle movement—like micro expressions.
On the flip side, sleep deprivation—especially lack of REM sleep—dulls our emotional radar. It weakens the amygdala’s ability to interpret emotional signals and disrupts communication with the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that helps us regulate and analyze those signals logically. The result? You’re less likely to pick up on subtle emotional shifts, and more likely to misread someone’s intent.
So if you want to sharpen your intuition and better understand what people are really feeling, don’t underestimate the power of dreaming. Prioritize your REM sleep—it could be the edge you need in reading between the lines. #WhyWeSleep https://image.nostr.build/a4bd79a820852821c48bd270b22af2b97073533986b7be52baee22c64e457d84.jpg