Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Sleep Tight! Researchers identify the beneficial role of sleep

Image of chromosome dynamics(red) and neuron activity(green) in Zebrafish
Research has been done and published by the Journal of Nature Communication which studied the pattern of sleep disturbances and sleep affect our brain performance, aging, and it's roles in brain disorders. Researchers were able to successfully isolate and identify sleep in an individual chromosome using 3D time-lapse techniques. These images show how single neurons need sleep so that they are able to perform nuclear maintenance and while we sleep DNA damage levels are normalized because, while we are awake DNA damage consistently accumulates throughout the day and repairing it is less efficient while we are awake.

I think it's interesting to see how something as normal as sleep plays an important role in not only how we function on a day to day basis but, in how our brain develops. It's funny because usually, you hear people saying how without sleep they are not themselves and it's literally true.

1 comment:

  1. I found this study very important as it demonstrates how sleep is essential to maintain the functioning of our nervous system in various ways. It is fascinating how the researchers used 3D-time lapse techniques in a live zebrafish and identified sleep in a single chromosome.

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