Lifestyle

How Does the Quality Sleep Affect Your Mental Wellbeing

Published

3 years ago

June 14, 2022

As you might have noticed, poor quality sleep has immediate adverse effects after pulling an all-nighter or when someone wakes you up before your alarm goes off. However, besides feeling groggy and out of it, did you know that not sleeping well can cause or exacerbate mental health issues?

Taking care of your mental health should be a priority. Mental health being a priority is why you have to ensure your sleep quality doesn’t get compromised. And for that, one of the best things is the Cake Delta 8 Disposable. Cake is a well-known brand, and its Delta 8 disposables are safe, last for hours and come at an attractive price.

Depression

For a long time, depression was known to be what causes you not to get enough sleep, but recent studies show that sleep deprivation can lead to depression. For example, a meta-analysis from 2011 with data from 21 studies found that your chances of getting depression double if you have insomnia.

Suffering from chronic sleep deprivation, which means getting poor quality sleep over long periods, is now known for changing a chemical called serotonin in your brain. The serotonin in your brain is the chemical responsible for keeping you happier when it’s at normal levels. Should these levels drop, you risk getting depression.

ADHD

If you’ve had ADHD since childhood, whether or not you were diagnosed with it, you might find it harder to fall asleep when you grow older. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true, and research has shown that it’s possible to develop ADHD later if your sleep patterns are regularly disturbed over the years.

Researchers found through sleep restriction experiments that getting poor sleep can worsen ADHD symptoms. That can cause you to get more impulsive, over-active, and inattentive than usual. Additionally, a study that involved children with ADHD showed a decline in the intensity of symptoms after the kids’ sleep patterns got restored to normal levels.

Anxiety

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, you need to get a minimum of seven hours of sleep every day to avoid mental health issues like anxiety. Dr. Julia Kogan, a sleep and stress psychology specialist, says your body produces higher cortisol levels when you’re getting enough sleep.

Cortisol is a chemical that’s usually connected with stress as it’s responsible for worsening digestive problems and headaches to make you feel exhausted or anxious. In addition, sleep deprivation intensifies activity in the regions of your brain correlated to anxiety, as stated in a 2013 study in The Journal of Neuroscience.

PTSD

A 2019 meta-analysis and systematic review said that your chances of developing an anxiety disorder like PTSD multiply by three if you have insomnia. Other studies saw people who experience sleep disruptions being at risk of getting PTSD more quickly than people who sleep healthily. Losing out on REM sleep was the prominent factor in increasing this risk.

REM sleep and other stages of sleep are crucial in helping you understand that the stimuli you experience in an unpleasant setting can be harmless. The Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging journal has a study that showed how losing sleep hampers the brain’s function that makes you forget bad memories.

Psychosis

Researchers say if you lie awake in bed often instead of sleeping, the longer you do this, the higher your chances of losing a sense of reality rise. Some of the symptoms you must look out for before the situation worsens include intensifying hallucinations and hazy or racing thoughts.

Psychosis symptoms are now understood to amplify the longer you stay awake and usually start with simple sensory misjudgments. The good news is that if you find yourself with psychosis symptoms due to not sleeping enough, returning your sleep patterns to healthy levels can cure these.

Bipolar disorder

A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in September 2017 found that sleep deprivation can trigger manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder. Additionally, when you’re experiencing a manic episode, you could feel like you don’t need sleep as you’ll feel extraordinarily energized or alert.

A study in the Translational Psychiatry journal that singled out healthy people found a link between poor sleep and bipolar disorder risk. While this study doesn’t mean you’ll get bipolar disorder by not sleeping enough, it does give us enough reason to want to prevent that possibility.

Conclusion

You can avoid developing or making many mental health conditions worse by simply spending more time asleep. However, just sleeping may not always be easy. So look for ways to curb abnormal sleeping patterns and contact your doctor should you think you have a sleep disorder.

Lifestyle

Confronting Propaganda: Street Smart Documents Honest Reactions to Gaza Indoctrination Footage

Published

2 days ago

November 6, 2025

Michelle Langton

Photo Courtesy of: Street Smart

Byline: Michelle Langton

In a recent project, the Street Smart team gathered 20 strangers and presented them with propaganda footage from Gaza that has circulated widely online but remains largely unfamiliar to many audiences. The aim wasn’t to provoke outrage or test media literacy in a classroom setting. It was to capture raw, unfiltered emotional reactions to material that reveals how narratives are formed at the source. The resulting video offers a candid look at how people process shocking content and how their perceptions shift when they see what is rarely shown on mainstream platforms.

The Structure of the Experiment

The format was simple. Participants were seated and shown a series of clips from Gaza, including children’s programming and broadcasts containing intense ideological messaging. No background information was provided, and viewers were not instructed on how to interpret what they were seeing. After watching, they were asked for immediate reactions.

The footage elicited a wide range of emotions. Some viewers were stunned by the content, admitting they had never seen anything like it before. Others expressed disbelief, questioning why this kind of material isn’t more widely discussed. A few were visibly shaken, saying the experience fundamentally altered their understanding of the situation.

By presenting the footage without narration or added commentary, Street Smart allowed participants’ genuine responses to emerge. The experiment revealed how propaganda can affect an entire generation. It can shock, unsettle, and force people to reconsider their assumptions.

Why This Project Matters

Sage Fox and Dorani aligned the purpose of this experiment with Street Smart’s broader mission of challenging prevailing narratives and encouraging critical thought among younger audiences. In an environment where footage spreads rapidly across digital platforms, propaganda can shape public opinion long before context catches up.

By showing the Gaza Indoctrination footage in a controlled setting and recording uncoached responses, the team aimed to expose the emotional and cognitive impact of this type of content.

“The first reaction is often the most revealing, because it shows how powerful images can be without context.”

The Range of Reactions

While each participant brought their own perspective, several themes emerged. Some expressed sympathy with the imagery itself, saying it was emotionally powerful.

One participant said, “It makes me question what I see online every day. How much of it is shaped this way?”

Their comments highlight how propaganda resonates differently depending on prior knowledge and exposure. Many viewers have simply never encountered such footage directly.

Street Smart’s Approach

This project continues a pattern established by Sage Fox & Dorani’s earlier videos. Rather than relying on experts or lengthy analysis, Street Smart focuses on real people and their honest reactions. The approach is simple but effective. Present potent material, listen to what people say, and share those moments with a wider audience.

The Gaza Indoctrination footage experiment fits this model. It doesn’t attempt to draw final conclusions or offer political commentary. Instead, it documents how people respond when they’re exposed to narratives that are usually filtered through intermediaries.

Implications for Media Literacy

Beyond its viral potential, the video raises broader questions about how people interact with powerful imagery online. Propaganda operates on emotional reflexes. As this experiment shows, those reflexes are often unexamined until they’re brought to the surface.

Sage Fox & Dorani hope that projects like this push audiences to think more critically about what they see and share.

“The purpose is not to tell people what to believe. It is to remind them that every image comes from somewhere, and that source matters,” they said.

Next Steps for Street Smart

As Street Smart’s platform grows, Sage Fox & Dorani plan to conduct similar experiments in different contexts. They intend to use their direct, street-level approach to highlight how people react when presented with challenging material.

The Gaza footage project is one piece of a larger mission. The team uses simple methods to shed light on complex issues. By focusing on authentic reactions, they continue to build a unique space in online media that blends cultural investigation with raw human response.

A Window into Unfiltered Thought

“We showed 20 strangers real propaganda footage from Gaza — and filmed their unfiltered reactions” is not a dramatic exposé or academic study. It is a clear, unmediated record of how individuals respond when confronted with material designed to persuade. In that restraint lies its strength.

By documenting these moments, Street Smart shows how awareness can begin with a pause. A brief space between seeing and believing.