3 Nights of Poor Sleep Can Lead to Heart Failure: New Therapy Ahead
While millions of Brits suffer from insomnia, many sleeping pills are not safe for long-term use and can cause serious side effects. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) therapy emerges as a science-backed and effective solution with a 63% success rate.
Almost 1 in 5 people in the UK aren’t getting enough sleep. Latest studies prove that sleeping less than recommended for 3 nights in a row can already increase the risk of heart failure. It means that from 5 to 50% of the population (the ones who have chronic insomnia) are affected by that. Sleep experts claim that alternative treatments should get more recognition as the issue evolves. In fact, sleep aids—one of the most used treatments—often cause serious side effects and dependence and are even linked to increased disability in the elderly.
“One of the areas we should keep an eye on is neuromodulation therapies,” says Dr. Hannah Nearney, Psychiatrist, Founder of Anchor Psychiatry Group. “These therapies are emerging as a potential alternative to treat neurological or psychiatric disorders with reduced side effects, and there’s increasing scientific proof to back them up.”
A new research study, published in the Open Journal of Psychiatry, has confirmed that after 1 week of such therapy, 36% of subjects were insomnia free, and after 10 weeks this number increased to 63%.
The study utilized a use-at-home, easy-to-monitor tDCS headset produced by Flow Neuroscience, a healthcare company that focuses on neuromodulation based therapies. This device is currently used at NHS clinics for treating major depressive disorder. The study concluded that tDCS can also improve sleep quality in people with insomnia relatively quickly and with minimal side effects.
Addressing insomnia at its core
“One of the main causes of insomnia is unregulated stress. The therapeutic effect of tDCS for insomnia lies in cathodal stimulation, which reduces activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a region often described as the brain’s thinking and control center. Its heightened activity is linked to anxiety, alertness, and wakefulness,” explained Dr. Nearney. “By lowering arousal in this area, tDCS helps to activate the brain waves necessary to initiate and sustain sleep.”
tDCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that uses a low electrical current to modulate brain activity through electrodes placed on the scalp. It doesn’t cause neurons to fire directly but alters their excitability, making them more or less likely to activate.
In the case of this study, this helps promote the brain’s natural transition into sleep, facilitating the generation of slower brain waves (like delta and theta waves) associated with sleep.
The tDCS device evaluated in the mentioned insomnia study is also clinically backed for the treatment of depression, and is used in the UK’s public health system.
Restoring healthy sleep patterns
“The problem with sleep medications is that most of them tend to interfere with deep sleep, which doesn’t allow the body to fully recover during the night,” says Dr. Nearney. “In contrast, tDCS does not disrupt natural sleep patterns and shows improvement of both sleep continuity and quality.”
Poor sleep increases negative emotional responses to stressors and decreases positive emotions. The current study has also investigated the effect of sleep disturbances on the severity of depression and revealed a moderate positive link between these aspects.
“However, tDCS is not an on-demand solution—it needs consistent use over time to be effective,” Dr. Nearney adds.
Sleeping pills, on the other hand, can cause dependence and serious side effects like next-day drowsiness and brain fog, and are advised for short-term use.
Dr. Nearney explains that combining tDCS with sleep medication and maintaining sleep hygiene and a healthy diet can be an effective approach to deal with insomnia.
“While medication provides immediate and on-demand relief, tDCS helps to restore healthy sleep patterns with continuous use,” she says.
Insomnia is associated with an up to 4.5-fold increased risk of suicidality, as well as developing other mental health disorders. As sleep plays a vital role in cognitive function, mood regulation, immune response, and metabolism, insufficient sleep is also a significant risk factor for chronic conditions, including cancer, depression, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.