Khaberni - An American research team has discovered the scientific mechanism that causes concentration to decrease during the day when deprived of sleep, shedding light on the effects of insomnia on mental performance.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology explained that the brain, when not getting enough sleep at night, enters a mode of cleaning up neural debris during the day that is supposed to occur during deep sleep, leading to decreased concentration.
This process occurs through the movement of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, responsible for removing wastes resulting from daily neural activity, and is usually synchronized with deep sleep so it does not interfere with thinking.
In cases of sleep deprivation, the brain tries to activate this cleaning function during wakefulness; leading to disrupted attention and weakened response to visual and auditory stimuli.
The study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, included volunteers who underwent concentration measurement tests and magnetic resonance imaging twice: once after normal sleep and once after sleep deprivation.
The results showed that response speed was higher after adequate sleep, while it declined significantly after sleep deprivation, to the extent of missing some important indicators during the experiment.
Researcher Laura Lewis, Assistant Professor at the Institute, in statements to the "Health Day" website specializing in medical research, said, "In cases of no sleep, waves of cerebrospinal fluid start to interfere with the sensation of wakefulness; impairing attention during the moments when these waves flow," confirming that the results clarify how insomnia directly affects vital brain functions and human ability to concentrate during the day.
