“The neurons tend to be more active and fire more, and if they fire more, you wake up more frequently,” study co-author and Stanford professor Luis de Lecea, Ph.D., said in a statement.
The team further hypothesized that this degradation of hypocretins may have something to do with the loss of potassium channels, which play a role in various aspects of cell functioning.
The team has more research to do as far as making these findings actionable, though they do hope this knowledge will lead to solutions that help older adults maintain high-quality sleep.
