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Sleep deprivation disrupts the way brain cells communicate with each other, which may explain why a bad night’s sleep can cause memory lapses and poor concentration.
Itzhak Fried, of the University of California at Los Angeles, and his team discovered this by studying the brains of 12 people with epilepsy. Each of these people had electrodes implanted in their brains to treat their epilepsy, but these electrodes also enabled the researchers to see how their brain cells behaved when they were very tired.
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The participants repeatedly performed a test in which they had to categorise a variety of images as fast as possible, and then did the test again after they had stayed awake all night. Analysing data from the electrodes revealed that lack of sleep caused the neurons to respond less quickly to visual information. These brain cells also fired less strongly, and their transmissions lingered for longer than usual.
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“We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly,” says Fried.
He says not getting enough sleep has a similar effect on the brain as drinking too much. “Yet no legal or medical standards exist for identifying over-tired drivers on the road the same way we target drunk drivers,” he says.
Journal reference: Nature Medicine, DOI: 10.1038/nm.4433
Read more: Top tips to get a better night’s sleep and improve your health
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