BBC: How the brain's little blue dot regulates your sleep

The BBC continues to report on import developments that affect longevity (if indirectly)…

The biohacker in me (and long time PEMF user) found the following (referenced in the BBC article of interest.

Finding mental calm

A burgeoning understanding of this neural pathway is leading some scientists to investigate whether different kinds of brain stimulation can calm the blue dot to improve sleep. A team in South Korea, for instance, have recently tested a headset that runs a small electrical current over one of the nerves in the forehead that is connected to the blue dot to temporarily damp down its activity – though it is not yet whether this reduces insomnia…

In conclusion, our study confirms the LC FC alterations in patients with insomnia and the modulatory effect of TTEN on LC FC in insomnia. Despite the high prevalence of insomnia in clinical settings, biomarkers of insomnia, classification of insomnia phenotypes, and exact neurobiological mechanisms of insomnia are still not confirmatory. Unraveling the neural correlates of insomnia, targeting the disrupted brain regions in insomnia treatment, and confirming the treatment response are major questions that remain elusive. A recent study demonstrated a potential neurostimulation target in insomnia, using resting-state FC maps (32). These attempts should be continuously made, and we believe that our results will be of help in establishing the basis for the aforementioned queries in the diagnosis and treatment of insomnia.

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