"The groundwork of all happiness is health." - Leigh Hunt

Are toxins released from the brain during sleep?

Ask the doctor.

Question
I actually have heard that toxins are released from the brain during sleep. Is it true?

Oh One of probably the most exciting discoveries within the last decade is that the brain has a “waste management system.” Like people, brain cells need food (mainly to soak up sugar and oxygen) to get energy to do their jobs. And, as with people, food produces waste that should be disposed of. The waste management system (called the glymphatic system) is a series of tubes that carry fresh fluid into the brain, mix the fresh fluid with the waste-filled fluid that surrounds the brain cells, after which mix the mixture with the waste-filled fluid that surrounds the brain cells. Takes out of the brain and enters the brain. the blood This happens mainly during deep sleep.

There is a few evidence that a poorly functioning waste management system may play a job within the neurodegeneration that happens after traumatic brain injury (as experienced by some football players, for instance). It can also play a job in other brain disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Because chronic sleep deprivation increases the danger of assorted brain diseases, it's conceivable that it does so by reducing the function of the waste management system.

Why will we sleep? We understand it helps chill out the body and strengthen memories and learning. Perhaps we also need sleep to flush out waste from our minds.


Photo: © fizkes/Getty Images