BBC: Research suggests that sleep loss may cause a permanent loss of brain cells.
BBC: Research suggests that sleep loss may cause a permanent loss of brain cells.
The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, looked at lab mice that were kept awake to replicate the kind of sleep loss common in modern life, through night shifts or long hours in the office.
A team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied certain brain cells which are involved in keeping the brain alert.After several days of sleep patterns similar to those followed by night workers – three days of night shifts with only four to five hours sleep in 24 hours – the mice lost 25% of the brain cells, in part of the brain stem.
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