After examining previous studies of sleep-deprived mice, many of which Dr. Veasey conducted, the researchers found that when they were awake several hours more than usual each day, two Important parts of the brain are significantly affected: the locus coeruleus, which manages feelings of alertness and excitement, and the hippocampus, which plays an important role in memory formation and learning. These regions, in humans, are central to maintaining conscious experience, slowing the animals’ production of antioxidants, helping to protect neurons from unstable molecules that are constantly being generated, as exhaust fumes, by active cells. When antioxidant levels are low, these molecules can build up and attack the brain from within, breaking down proteins, fats, and DNA.
“Sensation in the brain, even under normal circumstances, is subject to punishment,” Dr. Fernandez said. “But when you stay awake for too long, the system gets overloaded. At some point, you can’t beat an unruly horse to death. If you are asking your cells to keep working 30% of the time each day, the cells will die. “
In the brains of mice, sleep deprivation led to cell death after a few days of sleep restriction – a much lower threshold for brain damage than previously thought. It also induces inflammation in the anterior cortex and increases levels of tau and amyloid proteins, which are associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, in the coeruleus and hippocampus.
After a year of regular sleep, the mice that were previously sleep deprived still experienced neurological damage and brain inflammation. For Dr Veasey and Mr Zamore, this suggests that these effects are long-lasting and perhaps permanent.
However, many scientists say the new research should not cause panic. “It’s possible that a lack of sleep harms the rat and rat brains, but that doesn’t mean you should stress about not getting enough sleep,” says Jerome Siegel, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. sleep”. contribute to the review.
Dr. Siegel notes that nerve injury has many degrees, and the extent to which sleep deprivation affects the human brain is still unknown. He also expressed concern that worrying excessively about the long-term effects of sleep deprivation could lead people to try to get more, unnecessary sleep and take medication.
