Thank you to James Durham for sharing insights and a link to this new study that adds more answers to the question why sleep is so incredibly important for our brain and why consistent sleep deprivation can have serious negative affects on our brain function. #Sleep #SleepDeprivation #Brain #BrainFunction #Insights #Research #MasteringYourMindMatters
Burning the midnight oil may well burn out your brain. In the short term, this might be beneficial – clearing potentially harmful debris and rebuilding worn circuitry might protect healthy brain connections. But it may cause harm in the long term, and could explain why a chronic lack of sleep puts people at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. A new study help by University in Italy reached this conclusion after studying the effects of sleep deprivation. Researchers compared the brains of that had either been allowed to sleep for as long as they wanted or had been kept awake for a further eight hours. Another group were kept awake for five days in a row – mimicking the effects of chronic sleep loss. The team specifically looked at glial cells, which form the brain’s housekeeping system. Earlier research had found that a gene that regulates the activity of these cells is more active after a period of sleep deprivation. One type of glial cell, called an astrocyte, prunes unnecessary synapses in the brain to remodel its wiring. Another type, called a microglial cell, prowls the brain for damaged cells and debris. The team found that after an undisturbed sleep, astrocytes appeared to be active in around 6 per cent of the synapses in the brains of the well-rested. But astrocytes seemed to be more active in sleep-deprived – those that had lost eight hours of sleep showed astrocyte activity in around 8 per cent of their synapses, while the cells were active in 13.5 per cent of the synapses of the chronically sleep-deprived. Overall, this suggests that sleep loss can trigger astrocytes to start breaking down more of the brain’s connections and their debris. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gwXQupX5 One love #brain #sleep