A study led by researchers in Germany has found that poor sleep is a risk factor for cognitive issues such as memory loss.

According to results of the study recently published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’, deep sleep is also important for brain health.

“Depriving humans of sleep leads to all sorts of problems and can cause serious harm,” said Franz Xaver Mittermaier, scientific staff member of the Institute of Neurophysiology at Charité – Univer – sitätsmedizin Berlin in Germany.

“It is fair to argue that the organ that needs sleep the most is the brain. Sleep disconnects the brain from the outside world. The stream of sensory information is stopped.

This allows for the replay of past experiences without ‘outside interference’ which is necessary to consolidate the memories of these experiences — i.e. move them into the long-term memory,” he said.