Here's More Sleep Benefits: Brain Rids Toxins While Snoozing
It's common knowledge that having a good night's sleep could do wonders for beauty, and could amazingly restore lost memories. Now, a new study reveals that it's great for cleansing the brain too, according to the National Monitor.
The study team at the University of Rochester (New York) found that while asleep, "the space between brain cells expands by 60 percent," according to the General Health Channel. This expansion allows toxins that have been accumulated in the brain during waking hours, to drain out during sleep. The enlarged space allows brain fluid to flow more smoothly through the glymphatic system, so that the whole process serves as a period of cleansing for the brain.
The researchers used mice in their study, and observed how the space between brain cells changed dramatically when the mice were unconscious, compared to when they were awake. Lead author of the study Maiken Nedergaard explained that, "Sleep changes the cellular structure of the brain. It appears to be a completely different state," reports the The National Institutes of Health.
The brain cleanses toxins such as waste proteins that cause dementia and other brain deterioration illnesses. Though a similar phenomenon is yet to be proven in the human brain, the study raises the possibility and the hope that sleep disorders may be the key to understanding dementia and other brain diseases. As Nedergaard points out, "Isn't it interesting that Alzheimer's and all other diseases associated with dementia, they are linked to sleep disorders," according to NPR. One of the toxins that get flushed out during sleep is beta amyloid, the waste protein responsible for causing Alzheimer's disease in humans.
The researchers also emphasized that this study could explain why individuals who cannot sleep function poorly, especially in the intellectual aspect. The research finding may also explain why prolonged insomnia, or lack of sleep, may be fatal for human beings.
The study is published in the magazine Science, which is a project of the in American Association for the Advancement of Science.