We have all been told that sleep is important. But we understand this in the same way that we understand that we should not push big projects to the last minute. It is a rather painful experience, and we rarely display our best work when doing so, but we assume that the negative effects are not permanent. It was a one time thing, and surely, by behaving differently in the future we can offset the consequences of our poor decisions. After all, how many of us have had our parents tell us to go to bed at a reasonable hour, only for us to dismiss their worry with a promise to catch up on those missed hours at some unspecified later date?
Unfortunately, sleep does not work that way. Your brain lacks the capacity to forgive your continued withdrawal of promised rest. While it is highly unethical to keep a human awake for long periods to research the dangerous effects of sleep deprivation (after all, there is a long and sordid history of utilizing sleep deprivation as a method of torture), there have been promising research examining the effects of sleep deprivation in non-human animals. Dr. Fabian Fernandez, a neuroscientist at the University of Arizona, discussed the findings of other researchers published in the Trends in Neurosciences journal. He put it rather bluntly, “Wakefulness in the brain, even under normal circumstances, incurs penalties. But when you’re awake for too long, then the system gets overloaded. At some point, you can’t beat a dead horse. If you’re asking your cells to remain active for 30 percent more time each day, cells die” (Whang 2021).
In fact, it “also caused inflammation in the prefrontal cortex and increased levels of tau and amyloid proteins, which have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s [disease]” (Whang 2021). This finding supports the work of Dr. Fishbein et al., in the paper “Circadian Disruption and Human Health”. In the January 2023 NEUR 300 lecture at Loyola University Chicago led by Dr. Zee, a prominent neuroscientist who wrote the paper alongside Dr. Fishbein and others, Dr. Zee reiterated that circadian misalignment has been shown to predict the development of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s (Fishbein et al., 2021). According to the New York Times article, “The Sleep Debt Collector is Here” by Oliver Whang, sleep deprivation in mice led to cell death after only a few days, which was a significantly shorter window than previously hypothesized (2021). Dr. Veasey and Mr. Zamore, neuroscience researchers who studied the effects of sleep deprivation in mice, found that the sleep deprived mice still had evidence of neural damage and brain inflammation when examined a year after having regular, healthy amounts of sleep. Dr. Veasey and Mr. Zamore are of the opinion that these findings suggest that sleep deprivation creates permanent damage to the brain. However, Dr. Fishbein et al., have a slightly more optimistic tone, stating that the, “evidence that circadian disruption increases the risk for cognitive decline and [Alzheimer’s disease] raises the possibility that improving circadian function may decelerate age-related cognitive impairment” (2021).
It is important not to panic when reading these foreboding quotes. There is much that is still unknown and understudied regarding the lack of sleep in human brains. The fact that humans are notorious for underestimating the negative impacts sleep deprivation has on them adds yet another obstacle in the path of researchers. Dr. Seigel, a sleep scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, stresses this and “expressed concern that undue worry about the long-term effects of sleep deprivation could lead people to try to sleep more, unnecessarily and with medication” (Whang 2021).
At the end of the day, I return to the advice that Dr. Zee imparted on me and my classmates during her lecture. Limit the amount of light that we are exposed to in the evenings, sleep the recommended amount of hours for our age group, and go to bed and wake up at relatively the same hour every day. While it is impossible for me to understand the full extent of the damage I inflicted upon myself through the many late nights and early risings I had during high school, I do my best to prioritize my sleep now. Hopefully we will have more answers in the future, but for now, this is the best we can do with the information we currently have.
References:
Fishbein, A. B., Knutson, K. L., & Zee, P. C. (2021). Circadian disruption and human health. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 131(19). https://doi.org/10.1172/jci148286
Whang, O. (2022, June 27). The Sleep Debt Collector Is Here. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/health/sleep-debt-health.html
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