Sleep is an important part of life. Turns out that it affects our health as we age, specifically our brains. How many times you have you pulled an all nighter and said to yourself, "I sleep later or catch up on my sleep over the weekend". I know I have said this many times. In fact, I tell myself, I will get a nap in at lunch time on the nights that I don't sleep well.
A new study shows that not sleeping well and doing this over and over again can affect our brains adversely. The consequences of not sleeping are less reversible and can cause lasting damage to the brain. Research done at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and China's Peking University analyzed brain activity in mice under different levels of sleep loss.
What they found was pretty serious, and worth looking at. They found that not sleeping for long periods led to impaired neurological cell function and to the death of brain cells. This is some of the first evidence to indicate irreversible damage to the brain linked to insufficient sleep.
In particular they looked at an area of the brain called Locus Coeruleus. The neurons in this area of the brain play an important neurological role including: regulation of arousal, attention and wakefulness, as well as memory, emotional responses and cognitive function.
After subjecting the mice to different levels of sleeplessness, researchers found major changes to the health and function of this area of the mice brain, the locus coeruleus. They found that although the neurons in this area were able to cope with short levels of sleeplessness, they did not do so well with longer levels of sleep deprivation. In fact periods of extended wakefulness brought diminished function and eventual loss of brain cells. Specifically the neurons in the locus coeruleus were not able to generate a protective protein (this protein in important because it protects the brain from damage).Under conditions of extended sleep deprivation, these locus coeruleus neurons began to die.
This type of research is important in showing us that sleep is indeed important for our brain function. Millions of people do shift work, where they can go for extended periods of time sleep deprived. Previous studies have shown that damage to the locus coerulus region on the brain, can speed up the development of diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinson's.
Again this study shows you how important sleep is. We should be spending one third of our life sleeping, and we must do it well- for the sake of our mental health later on in life.
Source: Chronic Poor Sleep May Lead to Lasting Brain Damage
Additional Reading:
- Having the right pillow plays an important role in getting good sleep
- Tart Cherry Juice can help with Sleep
- Myths about sleep you may not know about
- Review for the arc 4 life tractioning pillow
- What is the reason you are not sleeping well at night?
