Brain imaging study find sleep loss leads to mental disorders

William Atkins
Friday, 02 November 2007 20:09

Science - Health

Harvard University Medical School and University of California-Berkeley researchers have explained through their study that sleep deprivation leads to irrational behavior, what is associated with psychiatric (mental) disorders.        

According to the researchers, the emotional center of the brain—located in the amygdala (within the medial temporal lobes)—may stop its function (to deal with emotional reactions and feelings, such as aggression and fear) when a person is severely sleep deprived. When this happens, people find it much more difficult to control their emotions.

Matthew Walter, the lead researcher in the study, who is from the University of California at Berkeley, states, “This adds to the critical list of sleep’s benefits. Sleep appears to restore our emotional brain circuits, and in doing so prepares us for the next day’s challenges and social interactions. Most importantly, this study demonstrates the dangers of not sleeping enough. Sleep deprivation fractures the brain mechanisms that regulate key aspects of our mental health. The bottom line is that sleep is not a luxury that we can optionally choose to take whenever we like. It is a biological necessity, and without it, there is only so far the band will stretch before it snaps, with both cognitive and emotional consequences.” [http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/cp-sca101707.php]

The study “The human emotional brain without sleep—a prefrontal amygdale disconnect” is published in the October 23, 2007 issue of Current Biology (vol. 17, no. 20, R877-R878).

The other researchers in the study include Seung-Schik Yoo, Ferenc A. Jolesz, Ninad Gujar, Peter Hu, and Matthew P. Walker.

The researchers found that even one night of missed sleep can cause unusual brain activity with respect to mental problems.