Study: Shift Work Affecting Brain Cells
There's a new study out by the University of Pennsylvania that may have you rethinking your sleep schedule, especially for those of your who have overnight, odd, or constantly changing work schedules.
A new study finds that lack of sleep due to shift work is causing irreversible brain damage.
Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience details the concerning news for people who work outside of normal work hours, like truck drivers or doctors on the graveyard shift. It found that the long-term sleep deprivation suffered by people working these hours takes away from the brain, even if you are able to catch up on sleep, and kills brain cells.
To compare, researchers put lab mice through a sleep schedule that mirrors shift workers. They found that the bundle of nerves in teh brain, which is associated with alertness and cognitive function, has lots of damage. The mice lost 25 percent of these neurons.
They also found that if losing sleep became a habit, the brain cells didn't protect themselves naturally like they should.
So now, the researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are plannin gto study deceased shift workers to see if they have same nerve damage in their brains. Their potential end goal is to develop a medicine that could help people cope with odd work hours.
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