Staying up all night can reverse depression for several days.
A new study suggests that the brain chemical dopamine – associated with pleasure and reward – can make the brain feel wired and tired even though the body is exhausted by missing a night’s sleep.
In the research, mild and acute sleep deprivation was induced in mice before an analysis of their behaviour and brain activity revealed that the rodents were in a bubbly mood for a number of days after missing out on rest.
Study author Professor Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy, of Northwestern University, said: “Chronic sleep loss is well studied, and its uniformly detrimental effects are widely documented.
“But brief sleep loss – like the equivalent of a student pulling an all-nighter before an exam – is less understood.
“We found that sleep loss induces a potent antidepressant effect and rewires the brain.
“This is an important reminder of how our casual activities, such as a sleepless night, can fundamentally alter the brain in as little as a few hours.”
