Eventually, it was an unlikely source that clued me in to a possible connection: a German article in an obscure journal with no English translation to be found.
Fortunately, a lab mate of mine speaks fluent German, and, in the spirit of collaboration, agreed to translate the findings for me. In short, the study showed that when nurses working the night shift were given a test of visual perception after the first, third and seventh shifts, they repeatedly failed it.
The nurses failed this test when shown flowers blumen , a house haus or a patio chair gartenstuhl , but not when shown a face gesicht , and they eventually passed the test after catching up on sleep for a week.
In order to understand these findings, we first have to dive into the BDII and what it can tell us about visual perception. The brain must then interpret and make inferences about these signals. Incidentally, our brains are impressively good at doing this. Normal visual perception is the optimal combination of bottom-up input and top-down correction. The BDII is a beautiful example of your brain overriding actual visual input.
For these sleep deprived but otherwise healthy nurses, top-down correction had become compromised. A failed BDII test -- or failure at perceiving the inversion -- suggests defective visual perception. But does it correlate with a susceptibility to hallucinate, to see polar bears on the side of the highway or coffee stains moving moving against denim?
Were any of those nurses hallucinating? Both are used as a means to disrupt cognitive function in order to better understand normal and abnormal cognition. But like psychosis, both psychedelics and sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, so functional studies of the brain in any of these states can hint at the neural processes that contribute to the susceptibility to hallucinate.
Functional imaging studies of a hallucinating schizophrenic brain are complicated and somewhat rare. Data from BDII tests, however, are more straightforward and surprisingly common. It turns out, they see a hollow mask or fail to see the inversion , especially during acute states of the disease.
Like the sleep deprived nurses, they are not able to perceive the illusion. And people high on cannabis? There must be something to this: people who characteristically hallucinate fail to perceive the exact same illusion. So do they all hallucinate in the same way? To answer this question, I searched for evidence that, given a certain task, a sleep deprived brain will look similar to a schizophrenic brain. When examined via fMRI, schizophrenic brains undergoing the BDII test showed different connectivity patterns than non-schizophrenic brains.
This means that the diseased brain has different strategies for minimizing visual errors. So, risking the rabbit hole of scientific literature, I searched for evidence that the sleep deprived brain also has trouble balancing bottom-up and top-down processes.
Adults need about 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night. But sometimes, work and lifestyle factors may disrupt your ability to sleep. But frequent or prolonged sleep deprivation can cause serious health issues. Lack of sleep can lead to poor cognitive function, increased inflammation, and reduced immune function. If sleep deprivation continues, it may increase your risk for chronic disease.
In general, there are five stages of sleep deprivation. The stages are usually divided into hour or hour increments. The symptoms usually get worse the longer you stay awake.
The symptoms of sleep deprivation tend to get worse in each stage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC , hour sleep deprivation is the same as having a blood alcohol concentration of 0. When you miss 36 hours of sleep, your symptoms become more intense. You may start to have microsleeps , or brief periods of sleep, without realizing it.
A microsleep usually lasts up to 30 seconds. Different parts of your brain will have a hard time communicating with each other. This severely impairs your cognitive performance, causing symptoms like:. Missing sleep for 48 hours is known as extreme sleep deprivation. You might even begin to hallucinate. After 3 days of sleep loss, your urge to sleep will get worse. You may experience more frequent, longer microsleeps.
The sleep deprivation will significantly impair your perception. Your hallucinations might become more complex. You may also have:. After 4 days, your perception of reality will be severely distorted. Your urge for sleep will also feel unbearable. You can start by going to bed early rather than sleeping in late. This will help your body get back on schedule.
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Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Function, Hallucination, and More. Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph. What happens after 24 hours What happens after 36 hours What happens after 48 hours What happens after 72 hours Food, water, and sleep deprivation Long-term effects Healthy sleep duration Takeaway How long can you go?
Prolonged sleep deprivation can lead to: cognitive impairments irritability delusions paranoia psychosis Although dying from sleep deprivation is extremely rare, it can happen. What to expect after 24 hours without sleep. What to expect after 36 hours without sleep. What to expect after 48 hours without sleep. What to expect after 72 hours without sleep. Can food and water intake have any effect on this? What if sleep deprivation becomes chronic?
How much sleep do you really need? Age Daily sleep recommendations newborns hours infants hours toddlers hours preschool-age children hours school-age children hours teens hours adults hours. The bottom line. Read this next. Medically reviewed by Natalie Butler, R.
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