Poor sleep may cost more than next-day tiredness. According to a Florida International University release carried by ScienceDaily, a study in Scientific Reports finds that several sleep disorders are associated with structural changes in brain regions responsible for attention, motivation and decision-making.

The team combined and analysed findings from 57 brain-imaging studies, one of the broadest examinations yet of brain changes across different sleep disorders. The results show patterns shared across disorders as well as patterns specific to each, which the researchers say may help explain why disrupted sleep affects everyday thinking and behaviour.

The work adds to a picture linking sleep, the brain and behaviour: the difficulty concentrating and the impulsive choices that follow short nights may have a measurable basis in brain structure. The researchers hope the findings will help identify sleep problems earlier and lead to treatments aimed at the brain systems involved.

Because the analysis pools existing studies, it shows associations rather than causes; whether sleep problems change the brain, or brain differences make sleep problems more likely, remains open.