Just one night without sleep can make the brain seem years older, study says

Significant changes in brain structure observed in completely sleep-deprived participants

Just one night of total sleep deprivation is linked to some people’s brains appearing years older, according to a new study.

The research, published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggested just one night of total sleep deprivation may cause significant changes in brain structure, making it appear similar to one after a year or two of ageing.

MRI data of 134 healthy volunteers – 42 females and 92 males – between the ages of 19 and 39 from five datasets with different sleep conditions were assessed by scientists, including those from Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany.

The conditions included total sleep deprivation with 24 hours of prolonged wakefulness, partial deprivation with three hours time in bed for one night, chronic deprivation, including five hours in bed each night for five nights, and a control group who slept eight hours in bed each night.

Participants in each group had at least one night of “baseline sleep” where they spent eight hours in bed.

Scientists assessed the brains of each participant every night and determined the apparent brain ages of the participants using a machine-learning algorithm trained on data from over 3,000 individuals.

Researchers observed that those with total sleep deprivation showed increased brain age by 1-2 years, but these changes were also reversible by recovery sleep.

“Interestingly, after one night of recovery sleep, brain age was not different from baseline,” they wrote.

Those with partial and chronic sleep deprivation didn’t show significant differences in their age predictions.

“In three independent datasets, we consistently found increased brain age after total sleep deprivation, which was associated with the change in sleep variables,” scientists wrote in the study.

The findings suggest that acute total sleep loss changes brain morphology “in an ageing-like direction” in young people.

While the results shed light on how a complete night without sleep may likely affect a person, the research does not directly provide insights on the long-term effects of chronic sleep loss.

Scientists called for further research to assess the brain activity changes in people who experience chronic sleep deprivation, such as those who do shift work, LiveScience reported.