Sleep is an important requirement for the proper functioning of the body as it plays a vital role in ensuring the wellness of the body physically and mentally. It is recommended that adults sleep for 7-8 hours but many people are too busy to sleep, which brings adverse effects to our bodies and brains. In modern society, many people are suffering from lack of sleep which can also be defined as chronic sleep restriction, which comes as a result of due to social pressure, people working for longer hours, and people focusing more on media entertainment. Reduced sleep duration tends to cause depression, cardiovascular disease, and irregular functioning of the brain. Sleep is extremely important for the performance of the daily activities and for a proper brain recovery after a long day.
Constant sleep loss can also be defined as chronic sleep restriction, which tends to affect the functions of the blood-brain barriers. It increases the permeability to circulating molecules (Cuddapah, 2019). Also, longer sleeping hours help restore normal blood-brain barrier permeability; therefore, to have a healthy brain, one needs to ensure that they sleep for 7 to 8 hours. The blood-brain barrier is a boundary in the circulation of blood and the space of the brain. The system helps protect the blood from any toxic substances in the blood and helps to filter all the dangerous elements from getting to the brain while allowing crucial nutrients to get to the brain.
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The studying of sleep effects within the blood-brain barrier is essential in behavioral neuroscience research because the study helps us to understand the effects of sleep on the blood-brain barriers. In contrast, the behavioral neuroscience field helps us understand human behavior, analyzing the brain's functions and psychological activities (Cuddapah, 2019). It will help expand the knowledge and understanding of the area, helping an individual relationship and be better positioned to come with beneficial recommendations and conclusions during the research. The study is critical in behavioral neuroscience research as it helps to monitor the functions of the brain, its development, and its cognitive engagement.
Different theoretical approaches drive the research in the behavioral neuroscience field. They include psychoanalysis, behaviorism, and cognitivism. Each theory dives into the research in different ways. Psychoanalysis is the study of the unconscious mind and mental disorders. This theory helps us identify and understand the different disorders that affect the brain and why they happen (Kellen, 2019). Behaviorism theory concentrates on the brain and how we interpret things that happen to us. At the same time, cognitivism focuses on the human mind and intelligence, which interprets how people behave, is as a result of the way they think. All these theoretical approaches are beneficial for researching behavioral neuroscience as they help understand how the body and the brain work in coordination and why people behave the way they do. It also helps us understand the different functions of the nervous systems.
Lack of sleep has effects on the blood-brain barrier that cannot go unnoticed. Sleep restrictions tend to increase the inflammatory signaling and proteins, which tend to weaken the blood-brain barrier (Cuddapah, 2019). Lack of sleep increases blood-brain barrier permeability, which is caused by the entering of antibodies into the brain. It is also clear that the damaged blood-brain barriers that are damaged due to sleep restriction can be repaired by getting enough sleep. Getting an extra hour or two of sleep after a sleep restriction can help to restore the blood-brain barrier functions (Gomez-Gonzalez et al., 2013) Once an individual gets more time to sleep, it guarantees that their blood-brain barrier barriers will be restored and therefore, it is important to ensure that one gets treatment for any sleeping disorders to ensure that their brain blood barriers are protected by getting enough sleep.
These findings help to better understand the topic as they help interpret and describe the different problems in the psychology field. They make us understand the research's principal outcomes, and one can make with a conclusion and recommendation about the topic from the findings. They have been of help in understanding the different perspectives in the field of psychology.
Getting treatment that will help strengthen the weakened blood-brain barriers will help in the reduction of the number of immune cells and antibodies to get to the brain. Some supplements can repair the blood-brain barrier. The supplements include vitamin B12 alpha-lipoic acid and Acetyl L-Carnitine. Some therapeutic medications increase the brain's anti-inflammatory proteins, thus helping repair the damaged blood-brain barrier.
Sleep enables the body to repair and be ready for another day. Enough sleep helps prevent heart disease and excess body weight and helps to renew the damaged blood-brain barriers. In-depth exploration of how constant sleep restriction weakens the blood-brain barriers, it is important to have further research on other areas of the body that are affected by the constant lack of sleep and compare the damages caused to the brain Further Research on the causes and treatment of different sleep disorders will benefit the study of psychology. Further Research will help explore the impact of enough sleep in the growth and development of the brain cells and the body in general. It is a way of educating people why society should focus on ensuring that they are not involved in many activities that deny them the chance to sleep when necessary.
References
Cuddapah, V. A., et al. (2019). Regulation of the blood–brain barrier by circadian rhythms and sleep. Trends in neurosciences , 42 (7), 500-510.
Gomex-Gonzalez B, et al. (2013) Rem sleep loss and recovery regulates blood-brain barrier function. Curr. Neurovasc. Res. 10, 197-207.
Kellen, D. (2019). A model hierarchy for psychological science. Computational Brain & Behavior , 2 (3), 160-165.
