It may be worth working harder to obtain what is highly desired but often elusive Good night's sleep.
Deep sleep cleans the mind of junk just as a dishwasher cleans dirty dishes and cups, newly published research suggests – and there's more.
The findings also provide insight into how sleeping pills affect the 'brainwashing' system – which may affect… Cognitive function For people in the long term.
Another reason to get more sleep and this one may surprise you
Norepinephrine (a neurotransmitter and hormone) Stimulates blood vessels The body contracts, generating slow pulses that create a rhythmic flow in the surrounding fluid to carry waste away, SWNS noted.
“It's like running the dishwasher before going to bed and waking up with a clean mind… We're basically asking what drives this process and trying to define restorative sleep based on ‘this’ glymphatic clearance,” Nedergaard said.
“It's like running the dishwasher before going to bed and waking up with a clean mind.” (Istock)
The brain has a built-in waste removal process — the glymphatic system — that circulates fluid in the brain and spinal cord to remove waste, according to scientists.
This process helps remove toxic proteins that form sticky plaques associated with neurological disorders, e.g Alzheimer's disease.
But scientists pointed out that what drives the system was not yet clear, according to the study.
Is all sleep equal? The researchers wanted to find out.
To find clues, Nedergaard and her team looked at what happens in mice when the brain sleeps, SWNS reported on the study. The team focused on the relationship between norepinephrine and blood flow during deep sleep.
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They found that norepinephrine waves correlate with changes in blood volume in the brain, suggesting that norepinephrine triggers a rhythmic pulsation in blood vessels. Then the researchers made a comparison Changes in blood volume For fluid flow in the brain.
The flow of brain fluid fluctuates in concert with changes in blood volume, suggesting that the vessels act as pumps to push the surrounding brain fluid to expel waste.
During deep sleep, toxic proteins that form sticky plaques linked to neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease are removed, scientists say in a new study. (Istock)
“You can see norepinephrine as the conductor of the orchestra,” said Natalie Hoglund of the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford, lead author of the study.
“There is a rhythmic contraction and expansion of the arteries, which then pushes cerebrospinal fluid through the brain to remove waste,” she added.
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Hoglund said she wanted to understand whether all sleep is created equal.
To find out, the research team administered zolpidem, a common sleep aid, to mice.
“If people are not getting the full benefits of sleep, they need to be aware of this so they can make informed decisions.”
They found that norepinephrine waves during deep sleep were 50% lower in zolpidem-treated mice than in mice that slept normally.
Although the zolpidem-treated mice slept faster, fluid transport to the brain was reduced by more than 30%, SWNS reported.
Two new studies point to the importance of getting a good night's sleep, with one study saying that lack of sleep may sabotage the brain's ability to keep intrusive thoughts at bay. (Istock)
The researchers say their findings, published in the journal Cell, suggest that sleep aids may disrupt the removal of waste produced by norepinephrine during sleep.
“More and more people are using it,” Hoglund said Sleep medicineAnd it's really important to know if this is healthy sleep. “If people are not getting the full benefits of sleep, they need to be aware of this so they can make informed decisions.”
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The research team said the findings likely apply to humans, who also have a glymphatic system, although more testing is needed.
“Now we know that norepinephrine is what drives the brain cleaning process, we may discover how people get long, restorative sleep,” Nedergaard added.
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Meanwhile, lack of sleep may do more harm than just making people feel groggy.
This can sabotage the brain's ability to banish intrusive thoughts.
Anyone suffering from sleep deprivation may find that their brain's defense against unwanted memories weakens, experts say. (Istock)
Another new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that sleep deprivation weakens the brain's defense against unwanted memories, allowing them to flood the mind, the study said. New York Post.
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“We have shown that sleep deprivation disrupts frontal lobe inhibition of memory retrieval, and that recovery of this inhibitory mechanism overnight is associated with time spent in REM sleep,” the scientists said.
