Is short sleep bad for the brain? Brain structure and cognitive function in short sleepers

Fjell, AM; Sørensen, Ø; Wang, Y; Amlien, IK; Baaré, WFC; Bartrés-Faz, D; Boraxbekk, C-J; Brandmaier, AM; Demuth, I; Drevon, CA; Ebmeier, KP; Ghisletta, P; Kievit, R; Kühn, S; Madsen, KS; Nyberg, L; Solé-Padullés, C; Vidal-Piñeiro, D; Wagner, G; Watne, LO; Walhovd, KB

Journal article

Is short sleep bad for the brain? Brain structure and cognitive function in short sleepers

Abstract:: Many sleep less than recommended without experiencing daytime sleepiness. According to prevailing views, short sleep increases risk of lower brain health and cognitive function. Chronic mild sleep deprivation could cause undetected sleep debt, negatively affecting cognitive function and brain health. However, it is possible that some have less sleep need and are more resistant to negative effects of sleep loss. We investigated this using a cross-sectional and longitudinal sample of 47,029 participants of both sexes (20-89 years) from the Lifebrain consortium, Human Connectome project and UK Biobank, with measures of self-reported sleep, including 51,295 MRIs of the brain and cognitive tests. 740 participants who reported to sleep < 6 hours did not experience daytime sleepiness or sleep problems/ disturbances interfering with falling or staying asleep. These short sleepers showed significantly larger regional brain volumes than both short sleepers with daytime sleepiness and sleep problems (n = 1742) and participants sleeping the recommended 7-8 hours (n = 3886). However, both groups of short sleepers showed slightly lower general cognitive function, 0.16 and 0.19 standard deviations, respectively. Analyses using acelerometer-estimated sleep duration confirmed the findings, and the associations remained after controlling for body mass index, depression symptoms, income and education. The results suggest that some people can cope with less sleep without obvious negative associations with brain morphometry, and that sleepiness and sleep problems may be more related to brain structural differences than duration. However, the slightly lower performance on tests of general cognitive abilities warrants closer examination in natural settings

Publication status:: Published

Peer review status:: Peer reviewed

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APA Style

Fjell, A. M., Sørensen, Ø., Wang, Y., Amlien, I. K., Baaré, W. F. C., Bartrés-Faz, D., Boraxbekk, C.-J., Brandmaier, A. M., Demuth, I., Drevon, C. A., Ebmeier, K. P., Ghisletta, P., Kievit, R., Kühn, S., Madsen, K. S., Nyberg, L., Solé-Padullés, C., Vidal-Piñeiro, D., Wagner, G., … Walhovd, K. B. (2023). Is short sleep bad for the brain? Brain structure and cognitive function in short sleepers. Journal of Neuroscience.

MLA Style

Fjell, A. M., et al. “Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers.” Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, 2023.

Chicago Style

Fjell, AM, Ø Sørensen, Y Wang, IK Amlien, WFC Baaré, D Bartrés-Faz, C-J Boraxbekk, et al. 2023. “Is Short Sleep Bad for the Brain? Brain Structure and Cognitive Function in Short Sleepers.” Journal of Neuroscience.
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