Researchers have found that one night of sleep depravity can cause morning blood concentrations of molecules NSE and S-100B to increase in healthy young men.
These molecules are typically found in the brain. Thus, their rise in blood after sleep loss may indicate that a lack of snoozing might be conducive to a loss of brain tissue.
The study involved fifteen normal-weight men, and in one condition they were sleep-deprived for one night, while in the other condition they slept for approximately 8 hours.
Sleep researcher Christian Benedict at the Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, who lead the study, said that they observed that a night of total sleep loss was followed by increased blood concentrations of NSE and S-100B.
He said that these molecules typically rise in blood under conditions of brain damage, asserting that their results indicate that a lack of sleep may promote neurodegenerative processes.
The findings have been published in the journal SLEEP.
