It’s no secret that a night spent tossing and turning often leads to a foggy, unproductive workday. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tufts University has discovered just why the brain reacts the way it does to sleep deprivation.
When the brain doesn’t get enough rest, a chemical called nucleoside adenosine is released from pathways known as gliatransmitters, causing levels of the compound to spike in the hippocampus.
The researchers discovered this in a mouse model, and hope to use these findings to learn more about sleep deprivation in humans.
Authors of the study said their experiments were designed to mimic the effects of losing about four hours of sleep in one night. They found that this significantly impaired the rodents’ cognitive ability.
“Most of us would think [four hours is] pretty minor, but it shows just how critical the need for sleep is for things like cognition,” said lead researcher Ted Abel.
Moreover, a lack of sleep has been shown to lead to a vulnerability to stress. Results of this study suggest that employee wellness programs that provide tools and resources for healthy sleep and stress management may have significant effects on employee performance.
