Can a lack of sleep shrink your brain?

Could a lack of sleep affect the actual size of your brain? A new study shows a strong link between poor quality sleep and the size of the brain.

It started with a study done at the University of Oxford and the University of Oslo in the past month where they examined about 150 adults (ages 20-80). The members of the study took a survey and described their sleeping habits. The survey included question like  how many hours of sleep they were getting a night, how soundly they thought they slept, how often they would wake up in the middle of the night, how tired they were during the day, and how long it took them to fall asleep. However we can not be sure how accurate these surveys are since people filled them out based on their memories and opinions; the scientists did not measure any of these factors for the subjects. After the initial survey the researchers took an MRI scan of each individual’s brain. they revisited the subjects 3 and half years later and did a second MRI scan of their brains. What the scientists found was those of those adults who reported poor sleep habits had a decrease in volume and size in certain parts of the brain in contrast to those who had healthy sleeping habits in which there was no size decrease in the brain. The researchers saw “shrinkage in one part of their frontal cortex and some deterioration, throughout three other parts of the brain, including parts involved with reasoning, planning, memory and problem-solving” (CBS). However the study did not measure these parts of the brains ability during the trial so it is hard to say weather they were negatively affected such as slower thinking or bad memory. 

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This study does not yet prove that sleep deprivation or poor sleep habits are the direct like to smaller brain size however and from class we know that correlation does not equal causation. The study only shows a correlation or association between the two variables. The possibility of reverse causation could also be a factor coming into play in this study. For example, is it the unhealthy sleeping habits that cause brain shrinkage or shoes the shrinkage in brain size cause sleep problems? It will take some more testing to figure it out; perhaps they could look at the sleep patterns of those with preexisting smaller areas of the brain and examine their sleeping habits and quality in a blind trial so the participants don’t know what kind of sleep pattern they are supposed to have.

Even though poor sleep habits (not lack of sleep) can not be considered the direct cause of decreasing brain size researchers hope to establish this further and in the meantime encourage people to maintain healthy sleep habits while we are unsure of the level of effect it has on the size of our brains.

Resources

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/04/health/no-sleep-brain-size/index.html?hpt=he_bn3

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/lack-of-good-sleep-could-shrink-your-brain-study-suggests/

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/09/15/dr-aw-sleep-why-its-essential-how-a-lack-of-it-can-shrink-your-brain-and-what-to-do-if-you-cant-get-enough-hint-its-not-a-drug/?__federated=1

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