Here’s Why Sleep Deprivation Makes You Feel Zoned Out post image

Why sleep deprivation feels like being drunk without drinking anything.

Sleep deprivation disrupts communication between brain cells, new research finds.

These disruptions can lead to temporary lapses in memory and even hallucinations.

This helps to explain why sleep deprivation leaves people feeling so spaced out.

Professor Itzhak Fried, who led the study, said:

“We discovered that starving the body of sleep also robs neurons of the ability to function properly.


The study was carried out on patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains prior to surgery for epilepsy.

The results showed that as they became more sleepy, the communication between their brain cells slowed down.

This caused a decrease in their reactions to cognitive tests.

Dr. Yuval Nir, the study’s first author, said:

“We were fascinated to observe how sleep deprivation dampened brain cell activity.


Not only did cellular communication slow down, so did overall brain wave activity.

Professor Fried said:

“Slow sleep-like waves disrupted the patients’ brain activity and performance of tasks.


Sleep deprivation has been linked to depression, obesity, heart attacks strokes and diabetes.

Professor Fried said:



The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine (Nir et al., 2017).

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Here’s Why Sleep Deprivation Makes You Feel Zoned Out

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