My grandma and I have always been very close. She is my role model and I talk to her about everything. It has been very difficult for me to see my best friend begin to slowly lose her mind. She has not yet been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s but I was just informed that she is getting an MRI on her brain tomorrow afternoon. I am anxiously waiting for the results and praying for the best. In the meantime, I came across an article claiming that a lack of sleep causes your brain to shrink. Sleep problems could be a cause of dementia or Alzheimer’s and I immediately thought it could be true since my grandma has a lot of trouble sleeping.

According to the article in CNN, a study was done to see if there is a link between sleep problems and participants’ brain volume. Only 147 people participated in the study and the participants were adults between the ages of 20 and 84. All participants were required to fill out a questionnaire about their sleeping habits and 35% of them were categorized as people with poor sleep habits. The participants had two MRI scans done. The first scan was done before they completed the questionnaire and the second one was done 3.5 years later. The study showed that people with sleep problems had a more rapid decline in brain volume compared to those who slept well. Adults who were over the age of 60 had even more significant results.

At first this article seems as if poor sleep habits could be a realistic cause of shrinking brain especially because I am trying to make sense of why my grandma is slowly losing her mind. However, I think there are some faults within this study and I do not agree with it. First of all, this could definitely be due to reverse causation. It is possible that a decrease in the size of your brain could cause you to develop poor sleeping habits. Your brain shrinking could be the cause of all of it. For example, not only could it lead to poor sleeping habits, but also to dementia and Alzheimer’s and any memory loss that people experience.

Another reason why this study was not accurate is because it was a very small study. Only 147 people participated in it. In order to obtain accurate results, you need to test it on a lot more people. In addition to this, correlation does not equal causation. This was an observational study, therefore third variables were not ruled out. This means that an outside variable could be causing the relationship between brain size and sleeping habits. It is also important to remember that the results can also be due to chance. It is impossible to ever rule out chance so it is always a possibility that the results randomly showed a correlation. Also, the two MRI scans were taken 3.5 years apart. This is not a very long time. I think the results would have been more accurate if the two scans were taken at least 10 years apart. I also think that more than two scans should have been taken in order to make it a more accurate study.

In addition to that, how do we know if the questionnaire about sleep habits was reliable or not? According to the article, “The questionnaire showed that 35% of those in the study met the criteria for poor sleep health.” However, the article does not state what the criteria for poor sleep health are. Using a questionnaire in a study is not reliable. In order to make the study more accurate, the investigators should have studied each participants sleeping habits themselves, in addition to asking them to fill out the questionnaire.

In conclusion, I do not think there is a link between a lack of sleep and brain size. There is not enough evidence presented in the study to conclude that poor sleeping habits will decrease the size of your brain. People may assume that this study is accurate because they might know someone who is experiencing memory loss and they are probably looking for answers, as I am. However, there is not enough evidence yet to make that accusation.