When a person goes without sleep one night, not only do they wake up tired, but the way their brain works changes. This was explained by a new study published in ‘Nature Neuroscience’, which revealed that, After sleep deprivation, this organ sometimes enters an “internal maintenance” mode, even while awake. During these small periods of distraction, the brain releases a wave of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). This fluid helps eliminate waste and keep the nervous system clean.

This research was carried out by a team from Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers found that cleansing pulses Common during deep sleep also appear when a person is awake but exhausted. The brain tries to forcibly do some of its night work while the person is still active. The main problem of this “cleansing mode” is that mental performance begins to plummet.

Scientists observed that when this occurs, people take longer to react or even stop responding to simple stimuli. Furthermore, the mind seems to disconnect for a few seconds, as if this organ decided to prioritize its maintenance over attention.

In this study, researchers analyzed 26 young people in two situations: one after a good night’s sleep and another after staying up all night. The next day, each volunteer underwent a series of attention tests inside a scanner MRI scans while wearing an EEG cap and sensors to measure pupil, pulse and respiration.

These analyzes allowed us to observe, second by second, how the brain, eyes and body reacted. The lapses in attention coincided with a CSF wave leaving the brain and returning a few seconds later. Something that caught their attention is that these symptoms do not appear in people who were rested.

This study showed that lack of sleep destabilizes the alert system of this organ, which tries to compensate by entering, for brief moments, in a physiological state very similar to the dream.

The result of lack of rest is a noticeable decrease in performance. Scientists explained that the brain cannot postpone its recovery processes, so they recommend sleeping the necessary hours.

*By Wendys Pitre Ariza