Sleep scientists from the Stanford University, CA, got to a surprising result. The research findings indicate that, when getting older, persons with a large sleep debt might especially be prone to diabetes, adiposity and brain damages.
Prof. William C. Dement, MD PhD and sleep scientist at the Stanford University has a simple explanation: “When the brain has not been able to rest adequately during the night it is trying to sleep during the day. The one who is not taking this into consideration will cause a permanent damage to the brain.” His conclusion: “Sleep deprivation causes stupidity.”
“Only two hours of too less sleep will lead to small impairments in human behaviour”, confirms Dr. Thomas Rotth from the sleep-medic department at the Henry-Ford-Hospital. “Driving a bus with a lack of sleep of ten hours is irresponsible”, so he said. This would be like having an alcohol level from 0.5 up to 1.0. The medic recommends about seven to nine hours sleep per day for adults. Children even need ten to eleven hours.
Especially dangerous is the combination of negative stress and too less of sleep. It is not new, that stress can considerably reduce performance. Everyone knows that – a black out due to excitement, completely forgot everything what was carefully studied? A Swiss study confirms that excitement and stress are obviously affecting memory. A stress hormone is not affecting the saving of information as assumed but their availability.
The memory is working in three phases: Acquisition of information is followed by consolidation and saving. Only than it is possible to recall the information again. Earlier studies showed, that the hormone cortisol – released by the adrenal gland when having stress – can cause poor memory performance. So far it was assumed, that it is blocking the saving process. Dr. Dominique de Quervain and his colleagues from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, proved, that the hormone is operating in a different area.
36 subjects were asked to remember 60 verbs and reflect as many as possible as well immediately as 24 hours later. Along with that they got a cortisone pill that the body rapidly converts into cortisol, either one hour before learning of the verbs or directly after. Both had no influence onto their memory. However, the cortisone administration – one hour before recalling of the memory – was clearly measurable: the results fell from average 17 remembered verbs to average 11 remembered verbs. That means, “under stress” the memory worked about one third worse.
De Quervain wants to investigate what possible damages a constant influence of cortisol might cause to the brain, like is happening in chronical depression, for example.
Sleep helps to balance the deficits. Already short recreational phases are able to significantly lower the stress level. The memory performances measurably enhances.
This post is also available in / Diesen Beitrag gibt es auch in: German
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