Sleep deprivation makes brain look old
Just sleeping one night without sleep is all it takes: In a new study, a team of scientists from Denmark, Switzerland, the United States, China and Germany has found that the human brain then appears older. In the 134 young, healthy participants, images of the brain show changes that typically only occur in people one to two years older. The good news is that subsequent recovery sleep reverses the changes. The study, led by Prof. David Elmenhorst of the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine at Forschungszentrum Jülich from the Helmholtz Research Field Information, also shows that there is no significant change in brain age after only partial sleep deprivation. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Presse releases)
With the aid of machine learning algorithms based on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the “biological” age of a person’s brain can be reliably estimated. However, this may differ from the person’s “calendar” age, for example, if dementia diseases cause the brain to age prematurely.
Sleep is essential for humans to maintain physical and mental health. What’s more, sleep and the brain influence each other. For example, age-related changes in various sleep characteristics indicate that decreased sleep quality is a common feature of aging. Conversely, sleep disturbance may accelerate the aging process of the brain. Until now, however, it was not known what direct effect sleep deprivation has on the biological age of the brain. With the current study, the researchers wanted to close this knowledge gap.
For the study, they first determined the biological age of the brains of 134 healthy volunteers (between 19 and 39 years old, 42 women, 92 men) using MRI. Subsequently, various experimental sleep conditions were investigated, including in the “:envihab” sleep laboratory of the DLR in Cologne: complete sleep deprivation (awake state for more than 24 hours), acute sleep deprivation (three hours of sleep for one night) and chronic partial sleep deprivation (five hours of sleep for five consecutive nights).
In analyzing the MRI data obtained, the scientists observed that complete sleep deprivation increased biological brain age by one to two years. “Interestingly, however, the brain age did not differ from the baseline value after one night of recovery sleep. In a sense, the brain ‘rejuvenated’ again,” David Elmenhorst explains.
In contrast, brain age was not significantly altered by either acute or chronic partial sleep deprivation. Elmenhorst: “Overall, the consistent results suggest that only total sleep loss alters brain morphology in an age-like direction in young participants. However, these changes are reversed by recovery sleep.”
FZJ/E. Zeiss 22.02.2023
The original press release can be found at:
Schlafentzug lässt das Gehirn alt aussehen (only in german)
The original publication can be found at:
Congying Chu, Sebastian C. Holst, Eva-Maria Elmenhorst, Anna L. Foerges, Changhong Li, Denise Lange, Eva Hennecke, Diego M. Baur, Simone Beer, Felix Hoffstaedter, Gitte Moos Knudsen, Daniel Aeschbach, Andreas Bauer, Hans-Peter Landolt and David Elmenhorst: Total sleep deprivation increases brain age prediction reversibly in multi-site samples of young healthy adults. Journal of Neuroscience 20 February 2023, JN-RM-0790-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0790-22.2023
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 2: Natural, Artificial and Cognitive Information Processing, Topic 5: Decoding Brain Organization and Dysfunction
Contact:
Prof. Dr. med. David Elmenhorst
Institute for Neurosciences and Medicine (INM)
Molecular Organization of the Brain (INM-2)
Phone: +49 2461 61-6113
E-Mail: d.elmenhorst@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Erhard Zeiss
Press Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-1841
E-Mail: e.zeiss@fz-juelich.de
