This Thing Plagues So Many People…And It Makes Human Brains Eat Themselves

Having recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea, I understand all too well the importance of getting enough quality sleep and how awful it feels when you don’t.

A good night’s sleep can do wonders for your health, but for many people, getting it as an uphill battle. I can’t tell you the last time that I felt well-rested. Every single day, I deal with chronic fatigue.And I’m certainly not alone. Everything from anxiety and depression to chronic insomnia can put a wrench in your pleasant dream plans. Chances are if you suffer from any of these conditions, you’re familiar with the effects of sleep deprivation. As a new study reveals, severe sleep deprivation doesn’t just make getting through the workday harder. It can actually cause your brain to eat itself.

A study printed in the Journal of Neuroscience revealed that the brain cells tasked with digesting cellular debris can go into overdrive when deprived of sleep and as a result, they can cause the brain to feed on itself.

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Flickr / affen ajlfe

These cells, known as microglia, are responsible for ingesting the waste products produced by the nervous system.

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Flickr / Yale Rosen

But microglia cells aren’t the only active cells in the brain. Astrocytes are the multitaskers of the ole’ noggin. Among other things, they sift through unnecessary synapses to help rewire the brain.

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Flickr / NICHD

For the study, researchers tested four groups of mice. While one group was allowed to sleep for as long as they liked, the other groups were forced to endure different levels of sleep deprivation, including periodic wakeup calls and cruelly being kept awake for five straight days.

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Flickr / Janice Waltzer

The astrocytes in the well-rested mice were active in six percent of the synapses, whereas the sleep-deprived mice experienced major overdrives.

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Flickr / Oleg Sidorenko

Neuroscientist Michele Bellesi revealed that for the first time ever, they were able to witness portions of the brain being eaten alive by the astrocytes as a result of sleep loss.

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Flickr / Kevin Qiu

However, a much more worrisome discovery was found during the study. During testing, the microglia cells became overly active due to chronic insomnia. Such activity has been linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s.

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Flickr / bark

Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/brain-food-for-thought/

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Leaman Ralph

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