Lack of sleep destroys the protective lining of the nerves and slows down the brain

Laboratory rats helped to understand the details of the process. The animals were limited to rest time for ten days, and then their electrical activity was measured. It turned out that the pulses took 33 percent longer to travel from one hemisphere to the other. This explains why a sleep-deprived person takes so long to find words or slows down behind the wheel.

In-depth tissue analysis revealed the culprit of the “inhibition”. They turned out to be myelin sheaths — fatty layers that envelop nerve endings like insulation on an electric wire. Cholesterol is needed to maintain their density and health. With a lack of sleep, the transport of this substance is disrupted.: it gets stuck inside the construction cells and does not reach its destination. As a result, the protection becomes thinner, and the signal begins to lose speed.

The authors of the publication not only found the problem, but also tried to fix it. The rodents were injected with cyclodextrin, a compound that helps release trapped cholesterol and return it to circulation. The effect was amazing: the thinning of the membranes stopped, the data transfer rate between the neurons was restored, and the behavior of the animals became as cheerful as those who slept enough.

It’s too early to talk about creating a pharmacy remedy for sleep deprivation, as human tests are still ahead. Nevertheless, the discovery gives hope: if the mechanism is confirmed, doctors will receive a fundamentally new tool for restoring cognitive abilities, acting directly on fat metabolism in the brain, and not just stimulating the nervous system with caffeine.