Here’s yet another reason why you need to get enough sleep.
Researchers have finally found out how toxins are eliminated from the brain while you are asleep, which could further help prevent one of the common neurodegenerative disorders called Alzheimer’s.
A study was conducted by the researchers of Boston University to look at how the brain toxins are eliminated during sleep and how that helps in preventing and treating Alzheimer’s or dementia.
The study was published Friday in the journal Science.
Lead researcher and biomedical engineer Laura Lewis and her team investigated a deep phase of sleep called non-REM sleep.
Several studies conducted on rodents have found that toxins that can cause neurodegenerative diseases were eliminated during non-REM sleep.
Also, it has been found that non-REM sleep helps retain memory, which is generally known to happen earlier in the night.
Talking about the brain’s blood fluid and oxygen levels, Lewis told Wired, “We had a sense each of these metrics was important, but how they change during sleep and how they relate to each other during sleep was uncharted territory for us.”
The researchers explained that when you are in non-REM sleep, the waves of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) wash the brain and eliminate toxins, which helps in synchronizing the nerve cells or neurons.
Lewis said, “You would see this electrical wave where all the neurons would go quiet.”
The researchers examined the participants’ sleep through an MRI machine with EEG caps on. They tracked participants’ brains for the electrical waves and other metrics. Now, they hope to find out the clinical applications. However, they need some rest because the study has left the authors exhausted. Lewis said, “It’s this great irony of sleep research. You’re constrained by when people sleep.”
