Tired brain cells turn off to catch up on sleep

SLEEP deprivation stops brain cells communicating properly and affects how people see the world around them, a study has shown.

The research, which has implications for driving while tired, found that parts of a fatigued brain turn themselves off to rest, even when a person is still awake.

Brain scans of sleep deprived people by scientists at the University of California Los Angeles revealed that fatigue disrupts how brain cells communicate, prevents memory encoding and can cause lapses in vision.

Itzhak Fried, from UCLA, said the effect could make a tired driver not notice a pedestrian stepping in front of them. The research appeared in Nature Communications.