Staying awake past this precise hour disrupts the brain and visibly changes behavior

From a certain time, not falling asleep can have consequences n& ;é;fastes on the brain and mental health.

Bedtime is important to maintain a regular sleep rhythm and get through the next day. Falling Asleep too late can even affect your brain, according to researchers who studied how human brain systems work at night. As reported in a study published in Frontiers in Network Psychology, medical specialists from the University of Arizona and Philadelphia have discovered neurophysiological changes that occur in the brain after dark.

While during the day, neural activity is regulated by the state of wakefulness, it adapts to sleep at night. “So if we are awake at these times, the neurophysiology is likely to promote behavioral dysregulation,” the experts explain. In summary: staying awake at certain hours disrupt our brains and affect our behavior. And the study particularly highlights effects on mental health.

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“There are millions of people who are “awake in the middle of the night, and there is pretty strong evidence that their brains are not functioning as well as they do during the day,” said neurologist and study author Elizabeth Klerman of the University of from Harvard.

Among the health effects highlighted in the study, some are well known, such as intense fatigue, or more unknown, such as a tendency to prefer an unbalanced diet to late hour, processed, fatty or sugary foods.

The expert is particularly concerned about people working shifts such as health professionals, firefighters, pilots. “I advocate for more research to look into this issue, because their health and their safety, as well as that of others, is affected,” she said.

According to the study, after a certain hour, attention to negative stimuli would intensify. This focus can be positive if it increases our vigilance, but it can also lead to behaviors that risk factors such as alcohol or drug use, but also gambling.

A complementary study even claims that, in the most extreme cases, the risk of suicide is three times higher after a certain time than during the rest of the day. This critical time is midnight, hence the name of the phenomenon explained by the study:  "Mind After Midnight" or "mind after midnight".  The brain is therefore not made to be awake at that time.