{"id":78735,"date":"2019-12-10T19:59:42","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T03:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=78735"},"modified":"2019-12-15T20:25:37","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T04:25:37","slug":"sleeping-well-brain-detoxification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/sleeping-well-brain-detoxification\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does Sleeping Well Impact Brain Detoxification?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you been sleeping well lately? We all\nknow that getting enough sleep is an important part of living a healthy and\nengaged life. Of course, getting a good night’s sleep keeps you sharp during\nthe day, and recent science has also shown how important it is in learning and\nmemory. Sleep is not only good for helping you pay attention in class or\nremembering what you did yesterday though, it also helps keep your brain neat\nand tidy after a hard days work. Recent research has shown that sleep triggers\nthe brain to clear out the toxins that build up while you’re awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other parts of your body, waste management\nis the responsibility of a network of vessels known as the lymphatic system.\nThis system picks up and flushes out toxic molecules and other waste products\nthat build up in your body as you use energy. Strangely though, the brain does\nnot contain any of these vessels. This has perplexed scientists for years,\nespecially because the brain uses more energy than any other organ in the body.\nHow could the brain clear out waste if it does not have access to lymphatic\nvessels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until recently that a group of\nscientists began understanding the brain’s strategy for flushing out toxins.\nResearchers at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Rochester\nused an injectable dye and a specialized type of microscope to trace how fluid\nmoves through the brain of a living mouse. They found that cerebrospinal fluid\n(CSF), the clear fluid in which the brain sits, enters the brain in the small\nspaces that surround blood-bringing arteries. This space is bound by a special\ntype of brain cell called astroglia. These cells completely ensheath the blood\nvessels in the brain and have proteins, known as aquaporins, that allow CSF to\nmove through brain tissue. As the fluid flows, it picks up toxic misfolded\nproteins and other metabolic waste that accumulate throughout the day. Finally,\nthe fluid takes these toxins and flushes them out of the brain tissue and into\noutgoing blood vessels. Because these \u201cglial\u201d cells play such an important\nrole, scientists have called this process the Glymphatic System (with the \u201cG\u201d\nstanding for glial) (1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s even more interesting though, is that\nthis neural plumbing system isn’t always turned on. These same researchers\nperformed a follow-up study published in Science and showed that the Glymphatic\nSystem \u201copens up\u201d during sleep. They showed that while the mice were awake, the\ntracing dye barely flowed through the brain at all. However, when the mice were\nasleep or under anaesthesia, the dye moved rapidly through the brain tissue,\nsuggesting that sleep allowed the flow of CSF through the brain to increase.\nThe researchers even tested this directly by putting electrodes in the brain to\nmeasure the space between brain cells (3) while the mice were awake or asleep.\nThey found that sleep caused the space to increase by 60{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c}, allowing for\nincreased volume and faster flow of CSF. The authors suggest that 40-80{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} of\ntoxins are removed from brain tissue through this sleep-mediated toxin cleaning\nprocess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing these toxins from the brain is\ncritical. Many previous studies have shown that misfolded proteins can pile up\nin this space. Accumulation of some of these proteins is thought to lead to the\ndevelopment of neurodegeneration (2). The importance of sleep in clearing out\nthese toxins is supported by studies that link lack of sleep with\nneurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s (4). One study from the University\nof California San Francisco showed that people who suffered from disordered sleeping\ndue to problems with breathing were significantly more likely to develop mild\ncognitive impairment or dementia than people with healthy sleep (5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers at the Washington University\nSchool of Medicine in St. Louis went a step further by measuring the\nconcentration of amyloid-beta, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s Disease,\nin the CSF of sleep-deprived people. The researchers tested 8 healthy people\nbetween the ages of 30-60 who did not suffer from any sleep disorders. The\nparticipants were organized into three conditions. The participants in the\nfirst condition were allowed to have a normal night of sleep, while those in\nthe second condition were sleep-deprived. The third condition consisted of\nparticipants having a night of drug-induced sleep. For each condition, CSF\nsamples were taken every two hours to keep track of any changes in amyloid-beta\nconcentration. The researchers found that the concentration of amyloid-beta was\n25-50{54c12dad2cc2b53ae830e39915b1a3e70288dbcbbeb8bbf8395437c5dc3c512c} higher in participants who were in the sleep deprivation group. They\nalso did not see any differences in amyloid-beta between the participants who\nhad a normal night of sleep versus those who had a drug-induced night of sleep\n(6). These results suggest that chronic sleep deprivation would likely result\nin consistently high levels of amyloid-beta, as lack of sleep prevents the\ncleaning crew from coming in at night to clear it out. This could increase the\nrisk of forming clumps of amyloid-beta (known as plaques), which are a hallmark\nof Alzheimer’s disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Getting enough sleep is as important to your\nhealth as exercising and eating well. It’s important not only for maintaining\nhigh cognitive function day-to-day but also for flushing out toxins that build\nup over a lifetime of thinking. So tonight, consider going to bed a bit earlier\nthan usual, your Glymphatic System will be happy to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Iliff et al. (2012). A paravascular pathway facilitates CSF flow through the brain parenchyma and the clearance of interstitial solutes, including amyloid \u03b2. Science Translational medicine.<\/em> doi: 10.1126\/scitranslmed.3003748.<\/li>
  2. Frost & Diamond (2010). Prion-like mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases. Nature Reviews Neuroscience<\/em>. doi: 10.1038\/nrn2786.<\/li>
  3. Xie et al. (2013). Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the adult brain. Science<\/em>. doi: 10.1126\/science.1241224.<\/li>
  4. Yaffe et al. (2011). Sleep-disordered breathing, hypoxia, and risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in older women. Journal of the American Medical Association<\/em>. doi: 10.1001\/jama.2011.1115.<\/li>
  5. Tranah et al. (2011). Circadian activity rhythms and risk of incident dementia and mild cognitive impairment in older women. Annals of Neurology<\/em>. doi: 10.1002\/ana.22468.<\/li>
  6. Lucey et al. (2018). Effect of sleep on overnight CSF amyloid-\u03b2 kinetics. Annals of Neurology<\/em>, doi: 10.1002\/ana.2511.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    Rebecca Williams grew up in England, where she studied medicine at Cambridge University, including obtaining degrees in Bachelor of Surgery and Experimental Psychology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Having worked in General Practice and Community Paediatrics in London, she then relocated to Johannesburg, South Africa.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rebecca has a passion for holistic community healthcare. She has helped to develop a community health training programme which she has taught in Mozambique, Zambia, Uganda and Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She is currently studying for a master\u2019s degree in Disaster Management, her research interest being mechanisms for developing psychological resilience in first responders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Married with four children, her spare time is spent enjoying tennis and water sports.
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Before working with\u00a0Brain Reference<\/a>, Rebecca had previously published research in the field of complementary and alternative medicine which can be viewed on researchgate:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n