Study finds brain abnormalities common to insomnia, anxiety, depression

A new study has found three brain abnormalities common to insomnia anxiety and depression and one of them is a smaller thalamus in the brain which is linked to attention and memory problemsThe other two are a weaker connectivity which hampers communication between brain regions and a reduced area of the cerebral cortex a form of brain damage also impacting memory and languageInsomnia or having trouble falling or staying asleep has been studied to increase the risk of mental disorders including anxiety and depressionIn addition some abnormalities are unique to each disorder For example the severity of insomnia appears to be more closely related to smaller volumes in the brain areas associated with reward author Elleke Tissink from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam the Netherlands saidAnalysing brain scans of over 40000 people from the UK Biobank dataset the team mapped similarities and differences between the common mental health conditionsThe findings published in the journal Nature Mental Health could help develop new treatments as currently available ones are only moderately effective and many people experience a return of symptoms the researchers saidThe severity of depression on the other hand seems to be more strongly related to a thinner cerebral cortex in brain areas associated with language and emotion Tissink saidFurther anxiety is more severe due a weaker reactivity of the amygdala and connectivity between brain regions where dopamine glutamate and histamine all brain chemicals play a crucial role in communication the author saidThe amygdala helps process emotions especially those related to fear and threat while the brain chemicals are crucial for learning memory motivation and being awakeHowever while the affected brain regions are distinct areas they appear to represent different pieces of vulnerability within the same puzzle according to TissinkThe regions seem separate from each other but when you map them out together they all turn out to be part of the same circuit the amygdalahippocampusmedial prefrontal cortex circuit Tissink saidThe hippocampus is the brain centre that forms memory while prefrontal cortex is part of the cerebral cortex and helps with higher level functions such as selfcontrol and achieving goalsStudies including the one published recently in the journal PLOS Global Public Health have found that excessive screen time can increase the risk of depression by affecting ones sleepTissink said The treatment of insomnia for example sometimes also improves depression but why By further investigating this question we hope to find new leads for followup research as well as better treatmentsSmaller total cortical surface area smaller thalamic volumes and weaker functional connectivity were linked to more severe symptoms of all three disorders the authors wroteSymptoms specific to insomnia anxiety or depression were often in parts of the amygdalahippocampalmedial prefrontal circuit highlighting the interconnectedness of these disorders and suggesting new pathways for research and treatment the team wroteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params