Not getting enough sleep is a drag. We can all agree on that. Many people might not know that sleep deprivation isn’t just feeling drowsy the next day. Your brain isn’t functioning as well as it should, which translates to tangible impacts on your daily life.
The connection between sleep and your brain is a big topic and can quickly become complicated, especially when you throw in words like hypothalamus and amygdala. At CNET, we’ve been studying sleep for years, so I’m here to help you understand what happens to the brain while we’re asleep and what can happen if you’re not getting enough of it.
What happens in the brain while we sleep?
The body may quiet while asleep, but the brain is surprisingly active. Before digging into the good stuff, let’s establish the stages of sleep. There are two broad types of sleep — REM sleep and non-REM sleep.
Non-REM sleep consists of four sleep stages: two stages of light sleep and two of deep sleep. Research suggests that stage two of light sleep is where the brain starts to work on memory consolidation. Deep sleep (stages three and four) is when restorative sleep happens and is essential for learning. Then there’s REM sleep, which goes even further into processing memories and emotions.
There’s a lot that happens in the brain only while we sleep. Your brain also does housekeeping tasks while you sleep, including removing toxins, encouraging communication between neurons and storing new information from the day. Sleep is also essential for neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to adapt.
5 ways sleep deprivation affects your brain’s functioning
Without quality rest, you can’t function as well as you could on a good night’s sleep. You may not have been making the connection between poor sleep and daily functionality. But it’s there.
You can’t concentrate
One of the first things you’ll notice when you don’t get enough sleep is the feeling of being scatterbrained. In other words, your thought processes are slower, and paying attention is difficult when you haven’t slept well. You get confused easily and have a hard time carrying out simple tasks.
According to a study published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, lack of sleep decreases task-related activity in the brain’s frontal and parietal parts. That means you have difficulty concentrating and can’t effectively block out distractions. Your capacity to sustain attention over time also decreases.
