The researchers studied 12 epilepsy patients hospitalized ahead of surgery. As part of their treatment, the patients were forced to stay awake overnight while doctors monitored their brain activity through implanted electrodes. While the surgeons watched for signs of seizures, the sleep researchers showed the patients images and tracked their brain activity as they tried to identify each one. As the patients got sleepier, their response time slowed. “We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity,” said lead author Yuval Nir of Tel Aviv University.

(WNS)–Dazed and confused? You’re probably not getting enough sleep. We all know that groggy feeling that comes from staying up too late or getting up too early. Now scientists at UCLA know why: The brain’s neurons fire more slowly and with less power when we’re sleep deprived.

The researchers studied 12 epilepsy patients hospitalized ahead of surgery. As part of their treatment, the patients were forced to stay awake overnight while doctors monitored their brain activity through implanted electrodes. While the surgeons watched for signs of seizures, the sleep researchers showed the patients images and tracked their brain activity as they tried to identify each one. As the patients got sleepier, their response time slowed.

“We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity,” said lead author Yuval Nir of Tel Aviv University. “Unlike the usual rapid reaction, the neurons responded slowly and fired more weakly, and their transmissions dragged on longer than usual.”

The researchers paid special attention to the temporal lobe, which controls visual perception and memory. The sluggish neurons had a hard time translating visual signals into conscious thought that led to action, which explains why tasks like driving can be so dangerous when we’re tired.

“Severe fatigue exerts a similar influence on the brain to drinking too much,” said Itzhak Fried, the study’s senior author and a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Tel Aviv University.

The researchers also observed slow, sleep-like waves disrupting other brain activity, suggesting parts of the brain take catnaps when they get overtired. Those forced breaks cause the mental lapses we’re all too familiar with when we don’t get enough sleep.

The ability to function on as little sleep as possible has become a badge of honor in our productivity-obsessed, striving culture. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution would argue we should be able to evolve to meet that “need” for more waking hours in every day. But the UCLA study reiterates the importance of a truth God gave us from the beginning: Rest is just as important as work. God didn’t design our bodies, or our brains, to function 24/7.

© 2017 World News Service. Used with permission.