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Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
A bad night’s sleep could make us less empathetic and more likely to focus on negatives, according to a leading neuroscientist.
Russell Foster, a professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford and the director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, explained the link between sleep and empathy at the 2025 Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, which has partnered with The Independent for the second year running.
Foster appeared on a panel alongside Kehinde Andrews, author of The New Age of Empire and professor of Black studies at Birmingham City University, and award-winning director Havana Marking as part of the festival’s daily News Review event, chaired by The Independent’s senior features writer Helen Coffey.
“One of the first things that goes when you’re tired is empathy, and what you also adopt is a negative salience,” Foster said.
Salience is a term used by neuroscientists to describe how something stands out from its environment.
“There’s been wonderful studies showing that the tired brain remembers negative experiences but forgets the positive ones, so one’s whole world view is biased,” Foster added.
The neuroscientist, who is also the director of the Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, revealed that “impulsivity is another thing that goes when you’re tired”, so trouble with sleeping might lead to you “making stupid, unreflective” decisions.
Russell Foster is a professor of circadian neuroscience at the University of Oxford (Sam Hardwick and Hay Festival)
The consequences for our political leaders, Foster added, could be particularly important.
“For most of us, it’s ‘oh, can I get through the traffic light before it turns red?’” he said. “But for our leaders, it’s hugely important [decisions] and I suspect they’re not getting the sleep that they need to make sensible, coherent decisions.”
The professor revealed that he and his colleagues have recently finished a pilot study exploring the sleeping patterns of politicians, and they are set to unveil their findings in a few weeks’ time.
The Independent’s morning News Review panels see our journalists discuss current affairs and headlines with standout figures from the arts, politics, science and comedy.
The 38th spring edition of the annual Hay Festival takes place in Hay-on-Wye, the “town of books” in Powys, Wales, from 22 May to 1 June.
