idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instanz:
Teilen: 
07.01.2021 11:43

Sleep is irreplaceable for the recovery of the brain

Benjamin Waschow Stabsstelle Unternehmenskommunikation
Universitätsklinikum Freiburg

    Researchers at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg demonstrate, for the first time directly, that active recovery processes take place in the brain during sleep that cannot be replaced by rest / Findings relevant for optimal performance

    Sleep is ubiquitous in animals and humans and vital for healthy functioning. Thus, sleep after training improves performance on various tasks in comparison to equal periods of active wakefulness. However, it has been unclear so far whether this is due to an active refinement of neural connections or merely due to the absence of novel input during sleep. Now researchers at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg have succeeded in showing that sleep is more than rest for improving performance. The findings, which were published in the journal SLEEP on January 6, 2021, provide important information for planning periods of intensive learning or training.

    "Sleep is irreplaceable for the recovery of the brain. It cannot be replaced by periods of rest for improved performance. The state of the brain during sleep is unique," says Prof. Dr. Christoph Nissen, who headed the study as research group leader at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg and is now working at the University of Bern, Switzerland. In earlier studies, Nissen and his team provided evidence for the notion that sleep has a dual function for the brain: Unused connections are weakened and relevant connections are strengthened.

    In the current study, the researchers conducted a visual learning experiment with 66 participants. First, all participants were trained distinguishing certain patterns. Afterwards, one group was awake watching videos or playing table tennis. The second group slept for one hour and the third group stayed awake, but was in a darkened room without external stimuli and under controlled sleep laboratory conditions. Not only did the group that slept perform significantly better than the group that was awake and active, but the sleep group also performed significantly better than the group that was awake, but deprived from any external stimuli. The improvement in performance was linked to typical deep-sleep activity of the brain, which has an important function for the connectivity of nerve cells. "This shows that it is sleep itself that makes the difference," says co-study leader Prof. Dr. Dieter Riemann, head of the sleep laboratory at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg. In control experiments, the Freiburg researchers ensured that fatigue and other general factors had no influence on the results.

    The study shows that sleep cannot be replaced by rest during phases of intensive performance demands at work or in everyday life.


    Wissenschaftliche Ansprechpartner:

    Prof. Dr. Christoph Nissen
    Research group leader
    Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
    Medical Center – University of Freiburg
    Christoph.Nissen@upd.ch


    Originalpublikation:

    Original title of the study: Sleep is more than rest for plasticity in the human cortex
    DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsaa216
    Link to the study: https://academic.oup.com/sleep/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/sleep/zsaa21...


    Bilder

    Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
    Journalisten, Wissenschaftler, jedermann
    Biologie, Ernährung / Gesundheit / Pflege, Medizin, Psychologie
    überregional
    Forschungsergebnisse, Wissenschaftliche Publikationen
    Englisch


     

    Hilfe

    Die Suche / Erweiterte Suche im idw-Archiv
    Verknüpfungen

    Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.

    Klammern

    Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).

    Wortgruppen

    Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.

    Auswahlkriterien

    Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).

    Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).