This should worry all the people taking adderall and modafinil to be more productive.
There's a massive difference between using stimulants to be more productive and using stimulants to skip sleep.
Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
71–80 of 177 posts
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#72Learned about this few years ago here is the link
https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_iliff_one_more_reason_to_get_...
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#73I thought this was already common knowledge? I remember reading about this about 3 years ago.
Specifically in this article about coffee naps http://www.vox.com/2014/8/28/6074177/coffee-naps-caffeine-sc... which links to this Harvard article: http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits...
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
because you're taking on significant health risks ("toxin" buildup as mentioned here among other things) by not sleeping, health risks that normally wouldn't be there because of the natural fatigue and lethargy that would force an unmedicated person (however dedicated) to drift off
[deleted]
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#75This article is from 2013. Has there been any further research published since then?
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#76> The process is important because what's getting washed away during sleep are waste proteins that are toxic to brain cells, Nedergaard says. Evolution found a nice little optimum in sleep that works pretty well- use less energy during a time of the day that isn't a very efficient time to be awake while also cleaning out the brain. This could be interesting for future research. Could we find chemical means to remove…
Or maybe some sort of mechanical pumping system? If it takes too much energy away from the brain to both remain awake and clear those proteins, a mechanical pump that is powered externally could solve that energy problem. (I'm only half joking--we already have mechanical means of replacing other biological functions such as a dialysis machine).
Along this line of thinking, if we knew exactly what was happening in the brain during sleep, could we speed up the process with mechanical/chemical means? Could we turn off brain functions to shrink the cells (or co-opt the existing sleep process and do this after one has fallen asleep), do the cleaning process (faster, while keeping the same effect) then wake up for maybe 30 minutes total of "sleep" a day? I personally don't think it's possible, at least for another century or so, because it's attempting to hack a body function and do it better (faster) than the body naturally does it (a dialysis machine is a poor substitute for a real kidney). Is there any example of a biomedical tech advancement where some part or mechanism in our body was augmented/replaced with something works better than the original?
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#77The actual research is quite interesting. Sleep disorders themselves are fascinating. There is evidence that TBI (traumatic brain injury) can cause lasting sleep cycle disruption. Perhaps sleep disruption and TBI is a much bigger factor in the lasting impact of TBI than previously thought. ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3482689/ ). Article review: This is pretty good science reporting, actually provid…
Yes, "toxic" and "toxins" are incredibly vague. I loathe the use of those words, as they are both scary and nearly meaningless.
Fun fact: toxin meant arrow long ago, for taxus, (bark tree ?) which bow were made of. The funny part is that that tree is .. toxic, it embeds alcaloids which can kill. The taxus philogenetic family was often a symbol of death for cultures, and people commited suicide using its "effects". Lastly, those familiar with oncology probably know paclitaxel/taxol; which are molecules derived from these alcaloids for their cytotoxig capabilities (forbid mitosis and induce apoptosis).
ps: in death you seek knowledge. #deadline
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#78Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
because you're taking on significant health risks ("toxin" buildup as mentioned here among other things) by not sleeping, health risks that normally wouldn't be there because of the natural fatigue and lethargy that would force an unmedicated person (however dedicated) to drift off
Sure, but not everyone is taking them to avoid sleep. Regular users primarily use them to boost productivity during the day, followed by normal sleep.
Re: Brains Sweep Themselves Clean of Toxins During Sleep (2013)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
because you're taking on significant health risks ("toxin" buildup as mentioned here among other things) by not sleeping, health risks that normally wouldn't be there because of the natural fatigue and lethargy that would force an unmedicated person (however dedicated) to drift off
[deleted]