Sleep Loss Linked to Brain Shrinkage

Amy Taylor September 04, 2014

Sleep is considered as the "the brain’s housekeeper", serving to repair and restore the brain. Now, researchers from University of Oxford in the United Kingdom say sleep difficulties may be linked to faster rates of decline in brain volume.

Sleep is vital to survival, and it helps the nervous system function properly. Studies reveal that when animals and people fail to get enough sleep, concentration, coordination, memory, and mood suffer.

Their study included 147 adults 20 and 84 years old. Researchers examined the link between sleep difficulties, such as having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night, and brain volume. A total of 35 per cent of the participants met the criteria for poor sleep quality, scoring an average of 8.5 out of 21 points on the sleep assessment. The assessment looked at how long people slept, how long it took them to fall asleep at night, use of sleeping medications, and other factors.

Researchers found a more rapid decline in brain volume over the course of the study in widespread brain regions, including within frontal, temporal and parietal areas, among the participants who lack sleep.

Such debilitating effects were more pronounced in people over 60 years old.

"Poor sleep quality was associated with reduced volume within the superior frontal cortex and a greater rate of atrophy across the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices," researchers wrote.

"It is not yet known whether poor sleep quality is a cause or consequence of changes in brain structure," said study author Claire E. Sexton, DPhil, with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. "There are effective treatments for sleep problems, so future research needs to test whether improving people’s quality of sleep could slow the rate of brain volume loss. If that is the case, improving people’s sleep habits could be an important way to improve brain health."

"This is really exciting because it might be if we can improve people’s sleep then this can help slow or prevent declines in brain volumes," she said.

The study was published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Source of this article: Poor sleep quality is associated with increased cortical atrophy in community-dwelling adults