The Sleep Debt Collector is Here from The New York Times

What we once believed about sleep deprivation is being debunked and it’s not good news.

For years science has believed that sleep debt can be forgiven. We had thought that spikes in adenosine (neurotransmitters that inhibit electrical impulses in the brain) caused by intense periods of sleep deprivation could return to normal with a few good nights of sleep causing no long term effects but research from the last couple of decades shows that’s simply not true. At least for mice and other animals.

Trends in neuroscience now show that getting too little sleep can increase the risk of long lasting brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Animals who lost just a few hours a day showed damage in both the locus coeruleus (alertness and arousal) and the hippocampus (memory formation and learning). It also showed a decrease in antioxidants allowing unstable molecules to build up and attack the brain breaking down proteins, fats, and DNA. Being awake too long results in a system overload and cell death can happen after just a few days. Even after a full year of regular sleep, mice still suffered brain damage and inflammation.

While human effects are still largely unknown, we do know that it only takes a short time for sleep deprivation to cause depression, metabolic issues, cardiovascular disease, an insufficient immune response, and dementia.

Goodnight Baby prioritizes the entire family’s sleep. Whether a family has a night nanny or works with our sleep coach, we can help you get more sleep and minimize or eliminate sleep deprivation in the early years of your child’s life and beyond.