Most people put off sleep at night for a variety of reasons. You know what happens when you delay sleep like this
Do you have plans to postpone a day’s sleep to study or do some work? Then you can decide after reading this. If you don’t sleep for a day, what is the problem? A day of sleep deprivation adds ‘two years’ to your brain! A paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience says the same thing. As the lost sleep recovers, these changes will reverse.
134 people between the ages of 19 and 39 participated in the study. Researchers used machine learning to estimate brain age from MRI scans of sleep-deprived people. The old report compared the same people with MRIs taken after a full night’s sleep. “Sleep loss in young adults changes brain morphology in a similar way to aging. But these changes can be reversed by getting good sleep,” says RWTH Ahn in Germany Eva-Maria Elmenhorst of the university said. “Our study showed that sleep deprivation causes changes in the brain similar to aging,” added Eva-Maria.
The study also found that brain age did not change significantly in conditions of acute (sleeping three hours a night) or partial sleep restriction (sleeping five hours each night for five consecutive nights). “Sleep plays a vital role in things like memory and thinking. Disruption of sleep can affect various body functions,” says Dr. Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, consultant interventional pulmonology and sleep medicine. Visweswaran Balasubramanian said.
“The brain is characterized by a phenomenon called neuronal plasticity. It is the ability of neurons in the brain to reorganize themselves in response to internal and external stimuli. “Sleep is the most important stimulus that can alter neuronal plasticity,” Dr. Balasubramanian said.
“Sleep helps restore the functions of most hormonal systems and organs in the body. In addition, sleep is important for the effective reorganization of neuronal synapses, which play a major role in memory and learning. So any disruption to sleep can have an impact on the brain, causing structural and functional changes in neuronal circuits. “The current study, which attempted to examine structural changes in the brain using MRIs and algorithms, provides evidence that sleep plays an important role in effective thinking and memory,” said Dr. Balasubramanian said.
Dr. Subramanian hoped that the study could bring about big changes at the individual and societal levels, “Bringing awareness about sleep and ensuring proper sleep hygiene (sleep hygiene) measures can have an impact on the mental health of individuals. That, in turn, will help productivity and creativity in the workplace.”
