![]() The latest of these studies shows that one night of sleep deprivation results in the deposition of amyloid-beta plaques in parts of the brain that are affected in Alzheimer’s. ![]() As a result, we become hypersensitive to rewarding stimuli, our emotional responses are heightened, and we start acting irrationally. One study, published in 2009, showed that sleep deprivation alters functional connections between the prefrontal cortex and the brain’s reward- and emotion-processing centers, impairing so-called executive functions. It also negatively impacts the rest of the body – it impairs the functioning of the immune system, for example, making us more susceptible to infection.īetter brain imaging now enables researchers to examine exactly how sleep deprivation affects brain function. Sleep deprivation makes us moody and irritable, and impairs brain functions such as memory and decision-making. We have all had late or sleepless nights, and most of us probably consider this to be completely harmless, even though we know from experience that losing sleep has dramatic effects on our mental abilities and well-being. Prolonged periods of poor sleep could result in these clumps accumulating to toxic levels, and these, in turn, could worsen sleeping difficulties in a vicious cycle (see “ Cleaning the Dirty Brain?”) The finding that the glymphatic system works best while we sleep helps to explain why sleep disturbances are linked to neurodegenerative diseases: Poor sleep hygiene likely reduces the efficiency of the brain’s waste disposal system, so that the insoluble protein clumps that would normally be cleared away by it remain in place. ![]() Alzheimer’s disease, for example, is associated with the deposition of two such proteins: amyloid-beta, which aggregates to form plaques around brain cells, and tau, which forms tangles inside them. ![]() Waste products cleared away by this system include insoluble clumps of misfolded proteins that are deposited in the brain these occur as a normal part of the aging process and also in neurodegenerative diseases. The brain disposes of its waste via the glymphatic system, which is thought to consist of a network of vessels that runs alongside blood vessels in the scalp and drains waste-filled cerebrospinal fluid from the organ. The brain does most of its housekeeping while we sleep, and one housekeeping duty in particular – waste disposal – seems to be acutely sensitive to a lack of sleep. Sleep disturbances are associated with neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders, so maintaining good sleep hygiene likely reduces one’s risk of developing such conditions (see “ The Link Between Depression, Sleep, and Stress”).Ī new study now shows that just one night of sleep deprivation results in the accumulation in the brain of a protein implicated in Alzheimer’s, highlighting once again the importance of good sleep hygiene for brain health. It is also clear that sleep is vital for maintaining good overall brain health, and that prolonged periods of sleep deprivation can have severe consequences. We now know that sleep plays an important role in learning and memory, with the brain activity patterns associated with newly-acquired information being “replayed” during certain stages of sleep to consolidate it (see “ Decoding the Patterns in Sleep” and “ The Sleeping Brain”). The past two decades has seen huge leaps in our understanding, however. The average person spends 25 years, or one third of their lifespan, in this unconscious – and highly vulnerable – state and yet, the precise function of sleep eludes us. Sleep is what biologists call a primary biological need, something that no animal can live without, like food and water.
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