Glymphatic System Opens during Sleep, Flushes Out Built Up Toxins

With distractions, work and other chores, getting a good night's rest may seem utterly impossible.

Yet a recent shows just how important sleep can be for the body. Of course, we already knew that REM cycles (rapid eye movement) help regenerate an individual. But what scientists may not have stressed is that during sleep cycles, the body actually works to flush out toxins associated with neurodegeneration.

Researchers from the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York used mice brain cells to examine toxins and how sleep rids the body of detrimental materials that build up during the waking hours.

"Sleep changes the cellular structure of the brain. It appears to be a completely different state," Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., co-director of the Center said, via a press release.

Dr. Nedergaard and colleagues unexpectedly discovered that sleep may actually be the period when the brain cleanses itself of toxic materials. For instance, their findings show that during sleep, a plumbing system known as the glymphatic system opens up and lets fluid flow rapidly through the brain. The system also helps control the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, a clear liquid that surrounds both the brain and spinal cord.

"It's as if Dr. Nedergaard and her colleagues have uncovered a network of hidden caves and these exciting results highlight the potential importance of the network in normal brain function," Roderick Corriveau, Ph.D., a program director at NINDS said, via the release.

In order to test this idea, researchers used electrodes inserted into the brains of the mice so they could directly measure the space between brain cells. They found that this space inside the brain increased by 60 percent while the mice were asleep.

"These results may have broad implications for multiple neurological disorders," said Jim Koenig, Ph.D., a program director at NINDS. "This means the cells regulating the glymphatic system may be new targets for treating a range of disorders."

"We need sleep. It cleans up the brain," Dr. Dnedergaard added.

Time for a nap?

More information regarding the study can be found via the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.