Poor Sleep Linked To Schizophrenia

It is well known that lack of adequate sleep not only makes you grumpy and obese but triggers some serious diseases.

A study done by neuroscientists from the University of Bristol's Lilly Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience has shown an alarming association between poor sleep and schizophrenia. They reveal that irregular sleep patterns and desynchronised brain activity during sleep could trigger some of the disease's symptoms. 

According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2011 Sleep in America Poll, 60 percent of U.S. adults say they have sleep problems every night, or almost every night.

The study was done in order to explore the irregular sleep patterns by recording electrical activity in multiple regions of the brain during sleep.

Generally, sleep deprivations lead to mood disorders, hamper concentration and stress levels. It is only in extreme scenarios that prolonged sleep deprivation can induce hallucinations, memory loss and confusion, all of which are also symptoms associated with schizophrenia.

Dr Ullrich Bartsch, one of the study's researchers said: "Sleep disturbances are well-documented in the disease, though often regarded as side-effects and poorly understood in terms of their potential to actually trigger its symptoms."

For the study, the team used a rat model of diseases to show desynchronisation of the waves of activity which normally travel from the front to the back of the brain during deep sleep. They noticed that the information flow from hippocampus to frontal cortex was disrupted. Hippocampus involves memory formation while frontal cortex involves decision making.

They noticed irregular sleep patterns were similar to those observed in schizophrenia patients.

Dr Matt Jones, the lead researcher from the University's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, added: "Decoupling of brain regions involved in memory formation and decision-making during wakefulness are already implicated in schizophrenia, but decoupling during sleep provides a new mechanistic explanation for the cognitive deficits observed in both the animal model and patients: sleep disturbances might be a cause, not just a consequence of schizophrenia. In fact, abnormal sleep patterns may trigger abnormal brain activity in a range of conditions."

The findings from this study open gates for new neurocognitive therapy in schizophrenia and related psychiatric diseases.

The findings are published in the journal Neuron.