Lack of sleep implants ‘false’ memories in brain

Lack of sleep implants ‘false’ memories in brain

Sleep deprived people are more likely to misremember events and hold ‘false’ memories of the past, scientists have discovered

It is a common complaint of couples that their partner sometimes appears to have a different recollection of past events than themselves, leading to arguments and recriminations.

But it could be caused by a lack of sleep.

Missing out on sleep makes people forgetful and can even implant ‘false’ memories of events that have never taken place.

A study by Michigan State University found that those deprived of sleep were more likely to struggle to remember the details of a simulated burglary when shown a series of images.

Researchers said it could have serious consequences for the criminal justice system, in which eyewitness are often asked to identify offenders following a stressful situation which may have disrupted their sleep.

But it is also likely to have repercussions in everyday life, with couples remembering past events differently.

Psychologist Dr Kimberly Fenn, of Michigan State University in the United States, said: “We found memory distortion is greater after sleep deprivation. And people are getting less sleep each night than they ever have.

“People who repeatedly get low amounts of sleep every night could be more prone in the long run to develop these forms of memory distortion. It is not just a full night of sleep deprivation that puts them at risk.”

Lack of sleep – less than seven to eight hours – is already considered a public health epidemic with more than 28 million people in the UK, almost six in ten of the population, regularly getting no more than seven hours a night.

Insufficient sleep has also been linked to vehicle crashes, industrial disasters and chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.

In the study participants who were kept awake for 24 hours, and even those who got five or fewer hours of sleep, were more likely to mix up the details of an event than others who were well rested.

The findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, follows a survey that showed almost eight in ten Britons are exposed to sleep disruptive blue light from computer devices before going to bed. Among 18 to 24 year olds this figure rose to an astonishing 91 per cent.

Lack of sleep is believed to harm the learning ability of children, and even lead to the loss of brain cells in adults which in the long term could cause Alzheimer’s disease.