I’ve talked a whole lot about why we all need tons of sleep. Sleep affects: your immune system, hormone levels, stress levels, genetic expression, mental clarity, weight, metabolism, physical coordination and so much more.
As it turns out, sleep makes your bain more efficient. Lack of sleep , however, doesn’t just make you lazy. Lack of sleep may actually lead to brain damage.
Get your pillows fluffed and your bedroom feng shui rockin’— there is another big reason to sleep so much more!
Bethany Brookshire wrote a great piece, Lost Sleep Could Mean Lost Neurons, in Science News that sheds light on a new danger of missing sleep— brain cell damage:
In a paper published March 19 in the Journal of Neuroscience, Zhang and her group showed that three hours of lost sleep in the mouse playground produced an increase in Sirtuin3, or SIRT3, a protein in a cell’s mitochondria. SIRT3 has a lot of functions, and one of them is reducing chemicals called reactive oxygen species. These molecules are capable of binding to and disrupting all sorts of cellular processes. ROS are a natural by-product of a cell’s daily life, but too many accumulating in the cell can get dangerous as the molecules bind to normal proteins, causing damage and eventually cell death.
By increasing SIRT3 protein when mice stay up late, the brain cells in the locus ceruleus are ready to deal with the ROS. But when the mice partied all night long, the situation reversed. SIRT3RNA levels went down, while ROS levels continued to increase. With three days of eight-hour sleep deprivation, the neurons in the locus ceruleus actually began to die. Napping didn’t make up for the sleep lost.
SIRT3 appears to be a key protein for protecting neurons from damage from ROS molecules during late nights. In mice lacking the gene for the SIRT3 protein, even three hours of sleep deprivation resulted in neuron injury from ROS.
“We didn’t think the brain got injured from sleep loss,” Veasey says. “Now we know it does.”
The take aways are many, at least for me! I will no longer lose sleep and think that naps can make up the damage. I am no longer under the delusion that I can “catch up on sleep” on the weekends. And wow, I am making my own bedroom feng shui even better to sleep deeper!
Are you sleeping enough these days?
To sleep more soundly you can try:
- warm milk (that is humanely farmed and antibiotic free)
- some lavender or sandalwood essential oils (or a sleep blend!) on the soles of your feet
- or any of THESE favorite tips of mine.
If you have favorite sleep-well tips, please feel free to share!
Sweet dreams!!! xoxo Dana
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