Marketa whole night without shutting an eyeshoot the levels ofdopaminein our brain. And this substance, linked to the sensation of euphoria and pleasure, is responsible for compensating for the lack of sleep by quickly awakening our neurons.
To reach this conclusion, Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the United States, has studied the changes experienced by the brains of several healthy subjects after spending a sleepless night. And it has been found that lack of sleep increases the amount of dopamine in two brain structures: thedorsal striatum, involved in desire and motivation, and thethalamus, related to alertness. In this way, he says, we can stay awake despite the lack of rest.
However,in the end staying up late takes its toll. As Volkow explains in the latest issue of the magazineThe Journal of Neuroscience, the increase in dopamine not only does not compensate for the poor cognitive performance that occurs after one or more sleepless nights, but evenreduces attention span and memory.
The researcher also emphasizes that certain stimulants such asamphetaminesThey have a similar effect to wakefulness, as they increase the amount of dopamine in the brain. On the other hand, thehypersomnolencecharacteristic ofParkinson’s patientsit could be explained by the deterioration of dopamine-secreting neurons associated with this neurological disorder.
