Time recently published an article detailing a team of Chinese and European researchers who studied brain images, finding found insomnia affects regions of the brain that regulate cognition, emotion and sensory processes.
The study was published in Radiology and data was collected from brain images of 23 people with insomnia and 30 healthy controls. The research revealed how patients with insomnia had a lot less white matter connectivity, specifically in parts of the brain that control sleep and wakefulness, compared to the healthy controls. Shumei Li, researcher from the Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People’s Hospital and colleagues believe the disruption in signals between these regions may have to do with the thinning of myelin surrounding the neurons.
Out of the six major nerve tracts the scientists assessed, five of them showed reductions amongst those with insomnia. Li and colleagues noted that extra research will need to be conducted for more concrete evidence on these differences.
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Jodelle joined TriMed Media Group in 2016 as a senior writer, focusing on content for Radiology Business and Health Imaging. After receiving her master's from DePaul University, she worked as a news reporter and communications specialist.