Lack of sleep can do more than make you tired; researchers have found that it may alter your bone health and even bone marrow activity.
Based on a study of rats experiencing sleep deprivation in young adulthood, researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin found that the subjects’ bone formation was arrested, and that fat in the marrow was reduced. At the same time, platelet-generating cells doubled in number.
Lead researcher Carol Everson, Ph.D., professor of neurology, cell biology, neurobiology and anatomy, said in a statement that the findings may hold true for humans as well. "The potential medical implications are far-reaching and may include poor repair of microdamage from activities of daily living” as well as an increased risk of osteoporosis and as well as “disease predisposition and disease resistance."
The findings may also have implications for the aging Boomer generation, providing an increased understanding of why older people may get osteoporosis and lose bone mass as they age.”
The results were published in the journal “Experimental Biology and Medicine.”
