Listen up, insomniacs! Princeton University researchers have found that for every sleep you miss out on, you are actually depriving yourself of new brain cells. According to the Princeton team, lack of sleep "affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories."

Using the ever-dependable lab rats, they discovered that those who lacked rest had higher levels of corticosterone, a stress hormone. Apart from this, they produced significantly lesser new brain cells in th hippocampus area. What this suggests is that the elevated stress hormone levels due to sleep deprivation have a direct effect on the production of brain cells.

Says Dr. Neil Stanley of the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, "It is an interesting finding. It would be interesting to see if partial deprivation - getting a little bit less sleep every night that you need - had the same effect."

Are you listening, gamers? So don't lose sleep over a game. Trust us, you'd need them new brain cells to overcome the big boss over at the next level.