I stayed up last night finishing my research poster. Don't worry, it turned out great, it's probably the best research poster you have ever seen. But I didn't go to bed until about 7:30.
Now that I have been up for a full 24 hours without sleep, I just have to wonder...
What would my brain look like on an MRI scan right now?! I wonder if it's any different than a fully rested brain?!
So I found out!
Dear Internet,
I love you.
Love,
Robert
There was a study conducted in 2007 by Matthew Walker,et al. (The emotional human brain without sleep- a prefontal amygdala disconnect. Current Biology, 17:877-878) that put a whole bunch of well-rested (12) and 35-hour-sleep-deprived individuals (14) into a MRI scanner (not all at the same time, of course!) and showed them images to illicit an emotional response. Then when their brain was responding and showing emotion, the scientists took a picture:
The brain on the left is a normal brain, showing a normal emotional reaction in the amygdala region.
The brain on the right, is a sleep-deprived brain. It is showing an erratic, uncontrolled and over-activated emotional response. This crazy response, as it turns out, closely resembles a much more primitive pattern of activity. The sleep-deprived brain is unable to put emotional experiences into context and cannot produce controlled appropriate responses.
Therefore, sleep-deprived individuals really do turn into....
Zombies! Incapable of appropriate emotional responses to emotional experiences.
Ok, but really, this research suggests that sleep and psychological disorders may be linked. Previous studies have shown that many patients with psychiatric disorders often also suffer from sleep disorders.
So here's the big take-home message: Get plenty of sleep each night, and you really will wake up in a better mood and have a better, less emotionally stressful day! Thanks for the advice, mom! Even though you didn't know it, IT'S SCIENCE!
Now, if we could just work on your fly-catching hypotheses...
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