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Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 98 posts

Re: Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

#4
post #3

Can anyone with better knowledge of such things explain why this has to occur during sleep? Is there just too much going on during the day to dedicate physical and mental resources to this type of cleaning?

> [Dr Nedergaard] told the BBC: "This is purely speculation, but it looks like the brain is losing a lot of energy when pumping water across the brain and that is probably incompatible with processing information."

Re: Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

#5
post #4
post #3

Can anyone with better knowledge of such things explain why this has to occur during sleep? Is there just too much going on during the day to dedicate physical and mental resources to this type of cleaning?

> [Dr Nedergaard] told the BBC: "This is purely speculation, but it looks like the brain is losing a lot of energy when pumping water across the brain and that is probably incompatible with processing information."

The question on everyone's mind now is, can you bypass that need?

Re: Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

#7
post #3

Can anyone with better knowledge of such things explain why this has to occur during sleep? Is there just too much going on during the day to dedicate physical and mental resources to this type of cleaning?

I wonder if sleepwalkers have this cleanup system working normally just and the part that supposed to shut off the muscles is not working properly.

Re: Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

#8
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [Dr Nedergaard] told the BBC: "This is purely speculation, but it looks like the brain is losing a lot of energy when pumping water across the brain and that is probably incompatible with processing information."

The question on everyone's mind now is, can you bypass that need?

We'd need some chemical that can cross blood brain barrier, get into the cells and refactor most harmful subtances that build up there. Not an easy task.

Re: Sleep Flushes Toxins from the Brain

#9
post #7
post #3

Can anyone with better knowledge of such things explain why this has to occur during sleep? Is there just too much going on during the day to dedicate physical and mental resources to this type of cleaning?

I wonder if sleepwalkers have this cleanup system working normally just and the part that supposed to shut off the muscles is not working properly.

That was my understanding of both sleep walking and sleep paralysis. The parts of your brain that activate during REM dreaming would cause you hurt yourself if GABA and glycine didn't shut off your muscles, thus putting your body into the bio-equivalent of park.
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