Abstract

Sleep is an invigorative biological process which cannot be defined as such, but is organized through intricate interactions between various brain regions and neurochemistry. Sleep endures physical and cognitive performance, health and well-being; even mild sleep restriction degrades behavioural performance over a few days. Sleep deprivation (SD) leads to an array of disorders such as cognitive dysfunctions, attention deficits including coordination and concentration. A decrease in the cortical sensitivity to an incoming stimuli leads to defect in attention. Also sleep deprivation leads to elevated levels of excitatory neurotransmitters and abnormalities in certain other neuromodulators which ultimately has effects on neuronal and executive functions. Inspite of wide-cut literatures availability on the neurochemical deviations following sleep deprivation, this review focuses on the major neurotransmitters effects leading to behavioural alterations and the concomitant brain region activities.

Keywords: Sleep; Sleep deprivation; Neurotransmitters; Cognition; Behaviour; Neurobiology