This is your brain on sleep deprivation. Scientists in Canada launched the largest study on how lack of sleep affects the brain. They created games that tested skills like reasoning, language comprehension & decision making. They had one participant repeat these tests in an MRI machine. Here's what they found: On the left is a normal night of sleep. On the right is when it's deprived of 4 hours of sleep. The colored areas are the activity happening in your brain. Notice the lack of activity on the right side. Researchers found there was less activity in the frontal & parietal lobes, which are crucial for decision making, problem solving & mood control. You are simply not at your best when you don't get enough sleep. Another study done at the University of Oslo found that lack of sleep leads to reduced clearance of substances from the brain. These substances are many of the same waste products that are seen to accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Some recent studies suggest that poor sleep contributes to higher levels of beta-amyloid protein in the brain, which lead to the amyloid plaques found in the Alzheimer's brain. If you want a healthy brain avoid long term sleep deprivation. What should you do? • When deprived of sleep avoid making big decisions & pause before reacting to an emotion. • Fix your sleeping habits. If you can't get enough hours, focus on increasing your sleep quality to make up for it. Sleep is the best legal performance enhancing drug on the planet. Make it a priority now so you can protect your brain for later.

.@MassDPH tracked an outbreak of diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium, which spread from one college swim team to another. The outbreak is an important reminder to stay out of the water if you are sick with diarrhea. bit.ly/7226a7