A New Discovery by Researchers from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) Promises to Revolutionize Insomnia Treatment.
According to SciTech Daily, Professor Anita Lüthi from the Department of Biology and Medicine at the University of Lausanne and her colleagues have identified the role of the brain region known as the “locus coeruleus” in cases of insomnia.
As reported in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, the “locus coeruleus” is located in the brainstem and serves as a regulator of sleep and sleep disorders.
Insomnia and difficulty sleeping may be due to unstable activity of a brain region – (AI Illustration: ANH THƯ).
This region plays a crucial role in the transition between NREM and REM sleep while maintaining a subtle, unconscious awareness of the external environment.
NREM sleep, or non-rapid eye movement sleep, constitutes the majority of our sleep time and includes various levels from light to deep sleep; whereas REM sleep, or rapid eye movement sleep, is vital for brain recovery and is associated with dreaming.
The new study indicates that stress in any form disrupts the activity of the locus coeruleus, leading to a decline in sleep quality.
This mechanism was uncovered through a series of experiments on mice, which clearly demonstrated that the locus coeruleus exhibited excessive activity if the mouse had experienced stress while awake.
This results in delayed onset of REM sleep and fragmentation of NREM sleep due to frequent awakenings.
This explains why individuals under stress struggle to achieve deep sleep, often waking up unusually during the night and then tossing and turning.
Furthermore, since it acts as the “gatekeeper” for the sleep cycle, this brain region may be responsible for all types of insomnia and sleep disorders that people encounter.
According to Professor Lüthi, this discovery paves the way for clinical research aimed at finding treatments for insomnia and sleep disorders that affect many people’s lives.
