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We’ve all been there – awake wrong side of the bed after a poor sleepless nightWhat should have been vigilance has been inadvertently replaced by Brain fog and lack of attentionBut why does this happen?
Scientist From Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has now discovered what really happens inside the tired brain error in judgmentIn a new study published in nature neuroscience magazine.
The study found that during these moments of brain fog, a wave of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is released from the brain – a process that normally occurs when we are in deep sleep, and helps wash away waste products built up during the day.
It is believed that this cleansing is necessary to maintain normal, healthy functioning of the brain and help regenerate the body.
However, when one lacks a good night’s rest, this process is disrupted and the body attempts to carry out those natural functions by emitting pulses of CSF during the day. This, in turn, comes at the cost of significantly impairing one’s ability to pay attention.
Researchers at MIT in the US recruited 26 volunteers and tested them twice – once in a laboratory after sleep deprivation, and again after a good night’s rest.
They then measured these participants’ brain function and their ability to function, while also monitoring how much CSF flowed in and out of the brain.
The activities included a visual task, which involved staring at a cross and pressing a button when it changed to a square, and an auditory task, which required them to press a button when they heard a beeping sound.
As expected, sleep-deprived participants performed worse than well-rested participants, with slower reaction times. Some recorded no change at all for some stimuli.
During these moments of distraction, the researchers found that a flow of CSF flowed out of the brain at the same moment that the lapse in attention occurred, and found that CSF was flowing back into the brain each moment after.
They also found that their breathing and heart rates decreased, and their pupils contracted 12 seconds before the CSF exited the brain, but dilated again after the distraction.
Laura Lewis, senior author of the study, said: “Interestingly, this seems to be a phenomenon not just in the brain, but throughout the body.
“These results suggest to us that there is an integrated circuit that thinks about very high-level functions of the brain – our attention, our ability to perceive and respond to the world – and then also controls basic fundamental physiological processes like brain fluid dynamics, brain-wide blood flow and blood vessel contraction.”
Lewis previously conducted a study in 2019, which showed that CSF flow in and out of the brain during sleep follows a rhythmic pattern, and these are linked to changes in brain waves. This made him wonder what might happen to CSF after sleep deprivation.