Mind Power and Sleep Deprivation
Are you a truck driver or shift worker planning to catch up on
some sleep this weekend?
Cramming in extra hours of shut-eye may not make up for those lost
pulling all-nighters, new research indicates.
The damage may already be done -- brain damage, that is, said
neuroscientist Sigrid Veasey from
the University of
Pennsylvania
It is a myth that you can pay back a sizeable "sleep
debt" with long naps later on, according to a study published in the Journal
of Neuroscience.
Long-term sleep deprivation saps the brain of power even after
days of recovery sleep, Veasey said. And that could be a sign of lasting brain injury.
Veasey and her colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania
They let them snooze, then woke them up for short periods and for
long ones.
Then the scientists looked at their brains -- more specifically,
at a bundle of nerve cells they say is associated with alertness and cognitive
function, the locus coeruleus.
They found damage and lots of it. "The mice lose 25% of these
neurons," Veasey said.
This is how the scientists think it happened.
When the mice lost a little sleep, nerve cells reacted by making
more of a protein, called sirtuin type 3, to energize and protect them.
But when losing sleep became a habit, that reaction shut down.
After just a few days of "shift work" sleep, the cells start dying
off at an accelerated pace.
Veasey said: "No one really thought that the brain could be
irreversibly injured from sleep loss."
Of course, more work needs to be done on humans.
Are you getting enough sleep? Are you working odd hours? How dangerous
is sleep deprivation to your brain power?
Stephen Lau
Copyright©2018 by Stephen
Lau
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