New research shows that sleep loss significantly exaggerates anxiety and anticipation of impending emotional events. This is especially true of highly anxious people. The study looked at brain scans of 18 healthy adults in two sessions - one after a normal night of sleep, the second after a night of sleep deprivation. During both, volunteers were asked to perform an emotional task that involved a period of anticipation of either a negative experience or a neutral experience. The brain scans showed that sleep deprivation caused a significant amplification of anticipation in the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with response to negative or unpleasant experience.