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Lack of sleep doesn't just make you feel bad; it can also harm your brain.
Long-term sleep problems may even increase the risk of diseases like Alzheimer's.
Scientists are trying to figure out how this happens.
In a recent study with mice, they found a protective protein that decreases when you don't get enough sleep, and this can lead to brain cell damage.
Researchers have seen that not getting enough sleep can damage a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is important for learning and memory.
To understand why this happens, they looked at changes in the levels of proteins and RNA in the brain.
RNA is like a set of instructions for our bodies that comes from our DNA.
Previous studies found some links between sleep loss and brain damage, but they needed to confirm these findings in larger groups of animals.
In this study, scientists made mice stay awake for two days and then tested how well they could navigate a maze and remember new things.
They also looked at the proteins in the mice's hippocampus.
They found that one protein, called pleiotrophin (PTN), decreased in the mice that didn't get enough sleep.
By studying RNA, they figured out how losing PTN leads to brain cell death in the hippocampus.
They also looked at human genetic studies and found that PTN is connected to diseases like Alzheimer's.
So, this research has shown a new way that sleep protects our brain.
PTN levels might even help us know if someone has cognitive problems from not sleeping enough.