If you’re one of the lucky people out there who can always fall asleep the moment your head hits the pillow, then congratulations — you also probably don’t need to continue reading, unless you want to share some info with your loved ones. But if you’re someone who regularly has trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting an actual restful night’s sleep no matter what, then you’re going to want to stay with us here. There could be a scary reason why you have sleep issues, and it might have to do with your brain.
This past month, scientists have discovered something that’s been theorized for a very long time: the brain has a “sleep switch,” which turns on when it’s time to hit the hay. There are apparently cells in a region of the brain called the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus, or VLPO, that trigger the feeling of sleepiness. But here’s the thing: some people might be dealing with a “broken” sleep switch, and that could explain why they deal with bouts of insomnia.
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As Bustle points out, research has shown that Alzheimer’s patients who have trouble sleeping have damage to their VLPO cells and that lesions in the cells can also cause sleep issues. This seems like it means that damage to the cells might be what “breaks,” or starts to break, the sleep switch. So what happens when that sleep switch breaks? Scientists believe VLPO helps us fall asleep and wake up because of neurotransmitters, substances that help brain neurons communicate, which turn off the parts of the brain that are involved in wakefulness. They also believe the VLPO lowers our body temperature to induce sleepiness.
Now, of course, scientists literally just discovered this sleep switch, which means they need to do a lot more research to figure out exactly how it works.
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Scientists have so far only discovered damage to the VLPO in people with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and in people who have had brain injuries. One study from 2012 showed that the VLPO appears to be undamaged in people with narcolepsy, a condition where patients fall asleep unexpectedly, which shows that VLPO isn’t the answer to all sleep disorders.
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If scientists can learn more, though, it can really open the door for some new ways to deal with sleep issues. Researchers think they might be able to help people with a technique called magnetic deep brain stimulation, which will use targeted magnetic waves to change electrical signals in the brain. It’s certainly going to produce some interesting conclusions, and who knows? It could be the key to helping you sleep better.