Visceral theory of sleep and origins of mental disorders

TL;DR

This paper proposes a visceral theory of sleep suggesting that disruptions in the brain's switching between external and internal information processing may lead to mental disorders.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis linking sleep-related neural switching failures to the origins of mental illnesses.

Findings

Hypothesizes that disrupted exteroceptive and interoceptive communication causes mental disorders.

Proposes a unified neural mechanism underlying sleep and mental health.

Suggests new directions for research on sleep and psychiatric conditions.

Abstract

Visceral theory of sleep states that the same brain neurons, which process external information in wakefulness, during sleep switch to the processing of internal information coming from various visceral systems. Here we hypothesize that a failure in the commutation of exteroceptive and interoceptive information flows in the brain can manifest itself as a mental illness.