Lack of sleep can cause psychotic symptoms similar to those of schizophrenia in healthy people, according to a study by an international team of scientists published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The authors of the study estimate that this effect should be investigated more closely in people who have to work at night and therefore stay awake all day long. In their opinion, people with sleep deficiencies can serve as a model useful in research into new antipsychotic drugs.
An international team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Bonn (Germany) came to such conclusions based on a study in a group of 24 healthy people aged 18-40 years. They all had to complete questionnaires about their feelings, experiences, and thoughts after a night of sleep in the sleep lab. A week later, they were kept awake all night long – they had to watch movies, talk, play and go for brisk walks. They filled out the same questionnaires in the morning.
Each time they also passed a test known as pre-signal braking. As lead author Dr. Nadine Petrovsky explains, this is a standardized test that tests the brain’s ability to filter and select relevant information. It consists in the fact that the reaction of surprise to some strong stimulus – usually acoustic, but also light or tactile – can be weakened by presenting a similar stimulus with a lower intensity before. Pre-signal inhibition is definitely weaker in people with schizophrenia.
It found that the brain’s ability to filter information deteriorated significantly after 24 hours without sleep. “The subjects had clear problems with concentration, which are typically observed in schizophrenia. The inflow of unselected information led to chaos in their brain ”- explains the co-author of the work, prof. Ulrich Ettinger. Moreover, survey participants indicated in the questionnaires that after a sleepless night they were more sensitive to light and colors, their sense of time and perception of smells changed. They also reported on “mental leaps”. Some of them even had the impression that they could read minds, and they also had a changed perception.
Many of these symptoms are typically attributed to psychoses, including schizophrenia. Prof. Ettinger emphasizes that his team did not expect a sleepless night to cause such a spectrum of symptoms and intensity.
The psychologist reminds that in the case of psychoses, there is a loss of contact with reality; this may be accompanied by hallucinations and delusions. The chronic form of psychosis is schizophrenia, which is also manifested by impaired concentration of attention, memory, chaotic thinking, distorted perception. People suffering from it hear, for example, voices, see things that are not there. Psychosis is one of the most serious mental disorders.
The authors of the study also point out that in people who did not sleep 24 hours, one night of sleep is enough for the symptoms typical of psychosis to disappear.
In their opinion, however, this study offers hope for the creation of a new model for the development of antipsychotic drugs. Currently, in this type of research, symptoms typical of psychosis are simulated by administering certain psychoactive substances, but scientists believe that this is not a good enough model. (PAP)
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