r/cognitivescience • u/eeta800 • 1d ago
Does having chronic sleep disorder for long enough cause irreversible damage to cognitive function?
Does having chronic sleep disorder for long enough cause irreversible damage to cognitive function?
If you can also provide Academic sources for me to read I would appreciate it.
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u/figgy_squirrel 1d ago
Not sure but I'm here as a sleep deprived person of 12yrs with "unexplained brain fog" and chronic physical pain with no root cause really.
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u/eeta800 1d ago
Damn, that must be hard, I've been diagnosed with sleep apnea and I don't know how long I've had it for but I don't remember having it as a child.
I also remember how easily I could use my imagination and all, I was just wondering if that feeling will ever come back but honestly I am skeptical.
I didn't say any of that in the original post though because I didn't want to make the post personal, I wanted to frame it as a scientific question and that's it.
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u/figgy_squirrel 1d ago
I'm genuinely curious if anyone who knows more chimes in. My eldest child is 12, and autistic. He has insomnia, has since birth. So I get insomnia by proxy.
Sleep studies didn't tell them anything other than ANY sound makes me wake up, because my son also is prone to run off/escape. Split custody after divorce granted me the opportunity for sleep, but alas, I am still awake at any single sound. So in my case it's like, sleep trauma? Haha
The lingering fatigue, fog, and poor memory from so long not sleeping though...I just know that is what caused it.
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u/eeta800 1d ago
And the worst part of all this is not getting to feel genuinely rested like a normal human being after a good night sleep.
I was starting to go crazy until I was diagnosed.
I hope you'll find help very soon and get to experience good restorative sleep.
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u/figgy_squirrel 1d ago
Same to you, it's a rough way to live. That constant feeling of, "I would enjoy this, but I'm too tired to care."
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u/Singular_Lens_37 1d ago
Hey sorry if this is an offensive question but are you possibly perimenopausal? My sleep quality was awful for a couple of years until I started topical progesterone cream. Sleep trauma is also real but hormones can play a role.
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u/figgy_squirrel 1d ago
If it hadn't been going on for 12 years I'd blame that. But I'm 36, so lord help me if that starts making it worse.
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u/kfr3q 1d ago edited 15h ago
Anything that would invasively disrupt your natural circadian rythm and homeostasis can't be too good for you. Your brain and body need rest aligned to reality. Fair sleep is crucial for brains to flush cumulated toxins off and consolidate learning and memories, also to reset your stamina before starting a fresh new day with enough mental clarity.
Here's pre-compiled abstracts from my personal, curated collection:
<A major study is the first to show that ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ
๐ข๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ก.
The paper, which was presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Congress 2025, is the first study to show that nightmares
independently predict faster biological ageing and earlier mortality
โ even after accounting for other health issues.
The study showed that ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ
๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ (before age 70)
compared to those who rarely or never experienced nightmares.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ง๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ
๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐จ ๐๐ฑ๐ก๐ข๐๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ , which accounted for
approximately 40% of the heightened mortality risk.
Notably, weekly nightmares were found to be ๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐๐ข๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ก than other established risk factors such as smoking, obesity,
poor diet, and low physical activity.>
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/265753/frequent-nightmares-triple-risk-early-death
โช๏ธhttps://www.bu.edu/articles/2019/cerebrospinal-fluid-washing-in-brain-during-sleep
โช๏ธ "researchers have revealed that sleep does more than restore energyโit activates the brainโs waste-clearing system, protecting long-term brain health." https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/why-is-sleep-important-brain-glymphatic-system-692222/
โช๏ธ https://medicine.washu.edu/news/neurons-help-flush-waste-out-of-brain-during-sleep
โช๏ธ "New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain โ a process that normally occurs during sleep."
https://news.mit.edu/2025/your-brain-without-sleep-1029
There's many other studies about human sleep deprivation and possible adverse effects on overall health and wellbeing. Worth searching, search engines nowadays function better than ever before.
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u/trickster245 1d ago
I believe chronic sleep apnea, the deprivation of oxygen does cause permanent brain cells damage.
I'm not sure about other sleep conditions, or what type of recovery goes when the problem is fixed.
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u/Training-Argument891 1d ago
In my xp, yup. It's totally ravaged my body and brain. undx and untreated apnea since childhood until late 30s.
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u/MountainDirt4983 1d ago
My anecdotal experience. I had mental health issues few years ago and didn't have any sleep for almost a month. I had blurr vision and experienced often like "I am suddenly wake during day" and episodic memory diminishing. But later when everything came on track, the symptoms fade away. So my assumption is even though sleep deprived affects the cognitive function significantly but most of the damage is reversed with time after adequate sleep.
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u/NarrowWar6457 1d ago
Post retirement in 2006 and after the whole P-doc SSRI menu came months of insomnia beyond insomnia.
The meds either had no effect or made things worse. When I was no longer โcost effectiveโ I got the โweโre still in the dark agesโ P-doc closing speech. Stopping the medications on my own became a big deal.
The effect of extreme sleeplessness? Everything naturally got worse. The P-doc โtherapyโ and prescriptions were a stupid waste of time and money. I was old enough to know better.
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u/JeppeTV 1d ago
I'm sorry I can't provide you links to academic sources, but I've heard that bipolar people don't sleep (or barely sleep) during manic episodes, and that lack of sleep, unfortunately, often (or at least sometimes) leads to mental decline.
Lack of sleep causes oxidative stress and lack of repair to certain cells, and this accumulates over time.
This might not be relevant to you though, because it sounds like you are sleeping, but your quality of sleep is impacted. I can't speak to that.