Insomnia causes loss of neurons
Your nights too short are not without danger! They could irreparably destroy your brain cells. A study by the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania and led by Dr. Sigrid Veasey demonstrates that mice exposed to lack of sleep lose 25% of neurons locus coeruleus, responsible for alertness and cognition process.
For this reason, they took rodents to which they underwent a wake-sleeping rhythm similar to that of night workers, thus an average of 5 hours of sleep over 24 hours, for three days.
Studies on humans
The experiment was limited to animals but the team will conduct tests on the brains of former dead night workers to detect any loss of neurons. If the conclusion is the same, it would mean that it is useless to want to make up for lost sleep. The researchers will then consider developing a drug capable of protecting the adverse effects of sleep deprivation.
