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Brains do a lot of work while we sleep – far from being pbadive behavior, sleep is actually essential to brain health and, therefore, to mental and cognitive health. Some new studies in recent weeks highlight the importance of sleep and lack of harmful sleep. And not just the chronic lack of sleep, but only one night's sleep lost. Many people may have heard that sleep deprivation may affect metabolism and memory, but research also shows that it can have a significant effect on anxiety, the risk of Alzheimer's disease and even chronic health at the level of our genes.
Anxiety
An interesting & nbsp;study from the University of California at Berkeley examined the loss of a night's sleep related to the regulation of anxiety and emotions in 18 healthy young adults. After a total night's sleep, participants reported a 30% increase in anxiety levels compared to what they had felt the night before – people who were allowed to sleep a full night did not experience type of anxiety.
And the difference was reflected in their brain scans: those who were deprived of sleep had more activity in their tonsils, the brain center of fear and anxiety. And in response to playing an emotionally charged video clip, sleep-deprived participants also had a lot less activity in their medial frontal cortex, which helps to regulate emotional reactivity. This suggests that sleep can help us keep control of our emotions. If you've ever felt like an emotional case after a bad night's sleep, maybe that's why.
"A deep sleep provides a soothing nocturnal balm, alleviating the sharpness of our lives and reducing our anxiety," said study author Matthew Walker in a statement. "It's a form of night therapy that many of us neglect in this modern day of inadequate sleep."
Alzheimer's protection
Another study building on the growing consensus that sleep is an important factor in protecting against dementia, thereby eliminating brain clutter that can accumulate and possibly lead to beta-amyloid plaques badociated with Alzheimer's disease. But the new study, from the University of Washington's Faculty of Medicine, has focused on tau protein, which forms "entanglements" also seen in Alzheimer's-affected brains.
The researchers studied mice and humans, depriving them of sleep during several experiments. In one of them, nocturnal mice saw their tau levels double when they were kept awake during their nocturnal sleep. And in humans, kept awake all night, their tau rate has increased by 50%. Finally, when the team injected tau into mice, those who were allowed to sleep normally had much less four weeks later than sleep-deprived mice – in these mice the virus had spread noticeably and in known parts of the brain to be affected in humans with Alzheimer's.
"The interesting aspect of this study is that it suggests that real factors, such as sleep, might affect the rate at which the disease spreads in the brain," said the author of the study. David Holtzman study in a statement. "We know that sleep problems and Alzheimer's disease are badociated in part with a different protein from Alzheimer's – the beta-amyloid – but this study shows that sleep disturbances cause a rapid increase in tau protein, a harmful protein, and its spread over time. "
He also suggests that sleep is a necessary part of brain maintenance.
"We should all try to have a good night's sleep," Holtzman said. "Our brains need time to recover from the stress of the day, we do not yet know if getting a good night's sleep will protect against Alzheimer's disease, but it can not hurt, and this and Other data suggest that it might even help to delay and slow down the disease process if it started. "
Change our genes
Finally, another study, from the University of Hong Kong, examined the genes of young doctors who worked day or evening. Doctors who had had only one night's sleep lost had more breaks in their DNA and a reduction in the number of DNA repair genes, compared to rest participants.
The authors suggest that these molecular changes may help explain why sleep deprivation is linked to an increased risk of cancer, as well as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
"Although this work is very preliminary, it is clear from the results that even a single night of sleep deprivation can trigger events that may contribute to the development of a chronic disease," in a press release, Siu-Wai. Choi, author, said the study.
Again, the interest of the three studies is that small-scale sleep loss can lead to significant changes. & Nbsp; Most people may not lose a night's sleep as often, but a loss of even half a regular could also have an effect. long-term. And it makes sense that chronic sleep loss can have lasting effects–research has certainly suggested this. In any case, the new studies add to the growing evidence that sleep should not be seen as an indulgence, but a necessity.
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Brains do a lot of work while we sleep – far from being pbadive behavior, sleep is actually essential to brain health and, therefore, to mental and cognitive health. Some new studies in recent weeks highlight the importance of sleep and lack of harmful sleep. And not just the chronic lack of sleep, but only one night's sleep lost. Many people may have heard that sleep deprivation may affect metabolism and memory, but research also shows that it can have a significant effect on anxiety, the risk of Alzheimer's disease and even chronic health at the level of our genes.
Anxiety
An interesting study from the University of California at Berkeley examined the loss of a night's sleep related to the regulation of anxiety and emotions in 18 healthy young adults. After a total night's sleep, participants reported a 30% increase in anxiety levels compared to what they had felt the night before – people who were allowed to sleep a full night did not experience type of anxiety.
And the difference was reflected in their brain scans: those who were deprived of sleep had more activity in their tonsils, the brain center of fear and anxiety. And in response to playing an emotionally charged video clip, sleep-deprived participants also had a lot less activity in their medial frontal cortex, which helps to regulate emotional reactivity. This suggests that sleep can help us keep control of our emotions. If you've ever felt like an emotional case after a bad night's sleep, maybe that's why.
"A deep sleep provides a soothing nocturnal balm, alleviating the sharpness of our lives and reducing our anxiety," said study author Matthew Walker in a statement. "It's a form of night therapy that many of us neglect in this modern day of inadequate sleep."
Alzheimer's protection
Another study is based on the growing consensus that sleep is an important factor in protecting against dementia, eliminating the hollow part of the brain that can accumulate and lead to beta-amyloid plaques badociated with dementia. Alzheimer. But the new study, from the University of Washington's Faculty of Medicine, has focused on tau protein, which forms "entanglements" also seen in Alzheimer's-affected brains.
The researchers studied mice and humans, depriving them of sleep during several experiments. In one of them, nocturnal mice saw their tau levels double when they were kept awake during their nocturnal sleep. And in humans, kept awake all night, their tau rate has increased by 50%. Finally, when the team injected tau into mice, those who were allowed to sleep normally had much less four weeks later than sleep-deprived mice – in these mice the virus had spread noticeably and in known parts of the brain to be affected in humans with Alzheimer's.
"The interest of this study is that it suggests that real factors, such as sleep, could affect how quickly the disease spreads in the brain," said the author of the study. Study, David Holtzman, in a statement. "We know that sleep problems and Alzheimer's disease are badociated in part with a different protein from Alzheimer's disease, beta-amyloid, but this study shows that sleep disturbances cause an increase in rapid tau protein, a harmful protein, and its spread over time. "
He also suggests that sleep is a necessary part of brain maintenance.
"We should all try to have a good night's sleep," said Holtzman. "Our brains need time to recover from the stress of the day, and we do not know if people will get enough sleep over the years to protect themselves from Alzheimer's disease, but it does not hurt. and other data suggest that help delay and slow down the disease process if it began. "
Change our genes
Finally, another study from the University of Hong Kong examined the genes of young doctors who worked day or night. Doctors who had had only one night's sleep lost had more breaks in their DNA and a reduction in the number of DNA repair genes, compared to rest participants.
The authors suggest that these molecular changes may help explain why sleep deprivation is linked to an increased risk of cancer, as well as cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.
"Although this work is very preliminary, it is clear from the results that even a night of sleep deprivation can trigger events that may contribute to the development of a chronic disease," said the author of the study. 39, study, Siu-Wai Choi, in a press release.
Again, the interest of the three studies is that small-scale sleep loss can lead to significant changes. Most people do not lose so much of a full night's sleep, but losing even half of it regularly could also have a long-term effect. And it makes sense that chronic sleep loss can have lasting effects–research has certainly suggested this. In any case, new studies add to the growing evidence that sleep should not be seen as an indulgence, but a necessity.
