In a sleepless night, our brain would age by at least a year! This is the incredible result of an international search this week.
Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Magazine de la Santé on France 5, today deciphers the results of a recent study on the impact of sleepless nights on our brain. This is the first time that this effect has been measured, in such a mathematical way.
franceinfo: So researchers have really shown this accelerated aging? Should we alert all partygoers?
Geraldine Zamansky: These results could effectively trigger a red alert for anyone who manages to chain two days without sleep. Because Professor David Elmenhorst, neuroscientist at the Faculty of Medicine in Cologne, explained to me how they precisely analyzed the MRIs of the brains of volunteers, before and after a sleepless night.
In fact, they entrusted the examination to an artificial intelligence that had learned to recognize all the neurological signs of aging, from hundreds of images of brains, at different ages. The verdict is clear: after a night of sleep deprivation, the brain seems to have lived 12 months longer. This is the first time that this effect has been objectified in such a mathematical way.
It’s impressive ! And is it irreversible?
Yes, it’s impressive… But I can assure you, this effect disappears completely two days later, after a 10-hour night. In fact, it’s a bit like the skin of the hands, damaged by hydroalcoholic gel for example: it looks very old, then quickly rejuvenates with a little moisturizer.
And the analogy was prompted by Professor Elmenhorst’s explanations of the changes observed in the brain. They would be linked to the disruption of the flow of liquids that normally occur there at night. Poor irrigation would result in a kind of dehydration. The nocturnal activity of vital cells, for the connections between neurons, could also be degraded.
That’s why you’re generally not very lively after a sleepless night. To take another very simplified image, the brain, deprived of rest, would go into slow motion. And this “slowed down” regime resembles that of an older brain…
And a restorative night is enough to erase everything? But what if the sleep deprivation lasts?
So, we have to wait for further research by Professor Elmenhorst’s team to know the effect of several sleepless nights. He already has good news: sleeping only 3 hours does not cause accelerated aging. The brain seems to succeed in taking a lightning rest.
And the same for 5 nights of 5 hours in a row. This is reassuring for many professions, whose sleep is limited! But remember, I’ve already told you here about a link between untreated sleep apnea and some brain pain. So, this study serves as a reminder: sleeping well can help slow down the aging of our neurons!
>>> The study