Not sleeping enough? Your brain might be eating itself

Sleeping serves many purposes. Superficially, it helps our bodies replenish, and prepares us for the next day.

It however serves more purpose than this. Besides giving us the energy we need to function, it gets rid of the toxics in our brain, that are a residual byproduct of neural activity.

Researchers recently found that not getting enough sleep consistently could cause the brain to clear a significant amount of neurons and synaptic connections, while adding that making up for the lost sleep may not be able to undo the damage.

In essence, not getting sleep may be causing our brain to start eating itself!

A 2017 study led by Michele Bellesi from the Marche Polytechnic University in Italy examined the mammal brain’s response to poor sleeping habits, and realised there was a similarity between well-rested and sleepless mice.

The cells in our brain are being constantly refreshed by two types of cell - the “microglial” kind that get rid of the worn out cells in a process of devouring them, while “astrocytes” refresh the wiring of synaptic connections in the brain.

The scary part is that our body does this not only while we’re asleep, but also when we aren’t simply getting enough of it.

Overdrive mode!

In this process, the brain goes into overdrive and starts eating the “astrocytes”, which as previously mentioned are responsible for refreshing the brain connections.

The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience took could not ascertain whether the mice behaviour could be replicated in humans. But given the 50 per cent jump in the number of Alzheimer’s cases is testimony to the possibility of more damage.

The researches after taking into account of groups of mice of on a scale of well rested to chronically sleep deprived found that the the brain had started devouring parts of itself after prolonged sleep deprivation.

Such activity has been linked to forms of neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease.