Skipping sleep can harm your brain
Depriving yourself
of sleep may harm your brain, according to a
Scientists compared the
physical condition of rats that had been deprived of sleep for 72 hours versus
a control group with no sleep restrictions. The physical problems associated
with the sleepless rats were obvious: Rats produced fewer new brain cells and had higher amounts of corticosterone, the stress hormone associated with road
rage.
Once corticosterone levels
remained at a constant level, however, the lessening of cellular growth ended.
Still, even after the sleepless rats got their rest, it took their bodies two
weeks before being able to return to their normal level of brain nerve cell
production.
This study should underscore
why sleep problems have become increasingly tied to all sorts of fundamental
health problems.
Source:
BBC News February 10, 2007
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