Chronic insomnia can damage memory structures in the brain, according to the Yale researchers.
Chronic lack of sleep because of the employment and the lack of time to sleep leads to with problems health. However, spontaneous chronic insomnia is no less dangerous .
It can damage the brain structures that are responsible for memory, according to researchers at Yale University.
Chronic stressful situations such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reduce the number of nerve cells in stress- sensitive areas of the brain that are responsible for memory: the cingulate cortex and the hippocampus.
Scientists have found that chronic insomnia has a similar effect on the brain.
The researchers measured the brain volume of people with chronic insomnia and those with no sleep problems . It turned out that sleep deprivation leads to a decrease in the amount of gray matter in certain regions of the brain.
“We also found that sleep deprivation causes a decrease in gray matter density in areas involved in assessing the pleasantness of stimuli and regulating the resting state of the brain,” the researchers write in the journal Biological Psychiatry. Moreover, according to them, the stronger the insomnia, the lower the density of the substance in the area responsible for “pleasantness”. This further reduces the chances of sleeping comfortably and resting normally.
The researchers add that insomnia is a common symptom for almost all mental disorders or high stress levels. And research results show that if insomnia is left untreated, it can damage brain structures and disrupt normal functioning.