What determines how generous a person you are? Could it be how much money you have? How kind you are? Or maybe it comes down to your values. These all seem reasonable assumptions, but a new study from Berkeley University suggests something that feels as trivial as how well you’ve slept lately can also affect how willing you are to help other people on any given day. It found sleep deprivation leads to a reduction in generosity.
The researchers tested how kind people were when they were tired in three different ways. In the first study, they deprived 21 volunteers of sleep for 24 hours, then asked them how willing they would be to help in a range of scenarios such as helping a stranger carry their shopping bags.
