Your brain starts
eating itself when
you don't sleep.
This isn't a metaphor. This is actual biology.
When you skip sleep, your brain activates microglial cells — the brain's cleanup crew — and they start devouring healthy brain tissue and synapses.
Sleep deprivation for just 24 hours impairs your brain the same way having a 0.10% blood alcohol level does. That's legally drunk — and most of us walking around sleep-deprived are essentially operating that way.
Long term? Chronic sleep depriva