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Eye Tracking, Cortisol, and a Sleep vs. Wake Consolidation Delay: Combining Methods to Uncover an Interactive Effect of Sleep and Cortisol on Memory
Published on: June 18, 2014
Overnight negative emotion inertia is moderated by evening cortisol levels
Lennart Seizer1,2, Keisuke Takano3,4, Johanna Löchner5,6
1Institute for General Practice and Family Medicine, LMU University Hospital, Munich, Germany. lennartmseizer@gmail.com.
BMC Psychology
|June 26, 2026
Summary
High evening cortisol levels increase the persistence of negative emotions overnight. This emotional inertia, the carry-over of feelings from evening to morning, may link stress to mental well-being.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroendocrinology
- Physiology
Background:
- Emotional inertia, the stability of emotions over time, impacts well-being.
- The carry-over of emotions across sleep (overnight emotional inertia) is understudied.
- Cortisol, a stress hormone, may influence emotional persistence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate overnight emotional inertia.
- To examine the relationship between evening cortisol levels and overnight emotional inertia.
- To explore the moderating role of cortisol on the persistence of emotions.
Main Methods:
- Pilot study with 26 female primary caregivers over two weeks.
- Collection of self-reported emotional states.
- Measurement of evening and morning salivary cortisol levels.
Main Results:
- Evening cortisol levels moderated the overnight inertia of negative emotions.
- Higher evening cortisol was associated with stronger persistence of negative emotions from evening to morning.
- Preliminary evidence suggests a link between evening HPA-axis activity and negative affect persistence.
Conclusions:
- Elevated evening cortisol may enhance the overnight carry-over of negative emotions.
- Stress-related physiological processes might be linked to overnight emotional inertia.
- Further research with larger, diverse samples is needed to confirm findings.
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