A study in the March issue of SLEEP found an association between poor sleep quality and reduced gray matter volume in the brain’s frontal lobe among a sample of Gulf War veterans. Results show that poorer subjective sleep quality was associated with reduced total cortical and regional frontal lobe gray matter volumes after controlling for potentially confounding variables. The authors noted that additional research is needed to determine if effective treatment of disturbed sleep leads to improved structural and functional integrity of the frontal lobes.
