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Salomon
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a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? 1
#19215468 - 12/02/13 12:36 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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this study was published in october.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/sleep-cleans-our-brains-say-scientists
Quote:
Scientists in the US claim to have a new explanation for why we sleep: in the hours spent slumbering, a rubbish disposal service swings into action that cleans up waste in the brain.
Through a series of experiments on mice, the researchers showed that during sleep, cerebral spinal fluid is pumped around the brain, and flushes out waste products like a biological dishwasher.
The process helps to remove the molecular detritus that brain cells churn out as part of their natural activity, along with toxic proteins that can lead to dementia when they build up in the brain, the researchers say.
Maiken Nedergaard, who led the study at the University of Rochester, said the discovery might explain why sleep is crucial for all living organisms. "I think we have discovered why we sleep," Nedergaard said. "We sleep to clean our brains."
Writing in the journal Science, Nedergaard describes how brain cells in mice shrank when they slept, making the space between them on average 60% greater. This made the cerebral spinal fluid in the animals' brains flow ten times faster than when the mice were awake.
The scientists then checked how well mice cleared toxins from their brains by injecting traces of proteins that are implicated in Alzheimer's disease. These amyloid beta proteins were removed faster from the brains of sleeping mice, they found.
Nedergaard believes the clean-up process is more active during sleep because it takes too much energy to pump fluid around the brain when awake. "You can think of it like having a house party. You can either entertain the guests or clean up the house, but you can't really do both at the same time," she said in a statement.
According to the scientist, the cerebral spinal fluid flushes the brain's waste products into what she calls the "glymphatic system" which carries it down through the body and ultimately to the liver where it is broken down.
Other researchers were sceptical of the study, and said it was too early to know if the process goes to work in humans, and how to gauge the importance of the mechanism. "It's very attractive, but I don't think it's the main function of sleep," said Raphaelle Winsky-Sommerer, a specialist on sleep and circadian rhythms at Surrey University. "Sleep is related to everything: your metabolism, your physiology, your digestion, everything." She said she would like to see other experiments that show a build up of waste in the brains of sleep-deprived people, and a reduction of that waste when they catch up on sleep.
Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, another sleep expert at Surrey University, was also sceptical. "I'm not fully convinced. Some of the effects are so striking they are hard to believe. I would like to see this work replicated independently before it can be taken seriously," he said.
Jim Horne, professor emeritus and director of the sleep research centre at Loughborough University, cautioned that what happened in the fairly simple mouse brain might be very different to what happened in the more complex human brain. "Sleep in humans has evolved far more sophisticated functions for our cortex than that for the mouse, even though the present findings may well be true for us," he said.
But Nedergaard believes she will find the same waste disposal system at work in humans. The work, she claims, could pave the way for medicines that slow the onset of dementias caused by the build-up of waste in the brain, and even help those who go without enough sleep. "It may be that we can reduce the need at least, because it's so annoying to waste so much time sleeping," she said.
so apparently there is a reason to sleep.
that's rather good to know.
the brain produced biological waste that is removed during sleep, essentially.
although this isn't THE reason why we sleep, it's helping to provide a little practicality behind it. this needs further research.
this means more to me than it probably does to you, but i thought it was interesting enough to share in the pub.
-------------------- EVERYTHING EVENTUALLY BECOMES A DESERT
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Asante
Mage


Registered: 02/06/02
Posts: 86,796
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Re: a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? [Re: Salomon]
#19216109 - 12/02/13 06:58 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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When the brain of a foetus starts working, it all starts with a dream, and when people die of natural causes they get sleepy and drift off to a dreamlike state.
Our spirit is from the realm of dreams, a dimension of our universe where time and distance have no meaning. From there it adheres to the body, and to there it departs.
Being of this other dimensional realm, like a scuba diver diving under into a world of flesh and liniar events, the Spirit frequently has to emerge to its own realm before submerging into the earthly world again.
Dreams are not an excusion from reality, they are temporary returns to a reality deeper than this physical one.
If you think about it, we're a being that surrounds itself with inventions and tools, which are conjured up from that otherworldly dimension of pure Spirit.
And the body, it goes in selfrepair and grow mode while we venture beyond.
Why do we sleep? Why does a scuba diver emerge?
-------------------- Omnicyclion.org higher knowledge starts here
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LuSiD enthusiast
Stranger

Registered: 03/14/13
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Re: a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? [Re: Asante]
#19216369 - 12/02/13 08:54 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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We sleep because we would go insane if we had to stay awake with a sober connection to the world our whole lives. The world ends everytime you go to sleep and we wake up in an alternate reality everyday. Nothing is ever the same as it is at this exact moment.
-------------------- I'm addicted to coke, weed, booze, ludes and speed. Not LSD, you can't get addicted to LSD, it was built by scientists. I ain't got no demons that gonna get woke. In erowid we trust. Just take your damn pills and don't ask any questions, you'll be fine.
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VivaLaMushie
RIP LS :(



Registered: 07/23/12
Posts: 15,711
Loc: Switzerland
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Re: a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? [Re: Salomon]
#19216399 - 12/02/13 09:14 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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That's why if you're having a terrible day, usually the next day is better after you've gotten sleep.
Your mind can think more clearly, more rationally.
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Chowder963
954-867-5309


Registered: 01/31/10
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Re: a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? [Re: Salomon]
#19216420 - 12/02/13 09:24 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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I'm not going to read that and haven't read what anyone posted so dont know if this has been said, but I read a study, not a blog or a .com or whatever, that it helps you practice things and become skillful in things, they did a test where they had this guy try to master a skiing game, and recorded his progress throughout a period of time. He slept in a room where they would watch him constantly and he had to answer if he had a dream and what it was about as soon as he woke up, every time he had a dream about the game his skill rised noticeably.
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Chowder963
954-867-5309


Registered: 01/31/10
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Re: a pratical solution to the question: why do we sleep? [Re: Chowder963]
#19216421 - 12/02/13 09:24 AM (10 years, 1 month ago) |
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I'm not saying that's the reason we sleep, maybe we are drones being controlled by things in another universe and they can't keep us going 24/7, that's why we don't remember until we have grown a bit, because they don't have enough people to just assign them immediately, and there's gotta paperwork, you can't just switch humans.
Lol nah I'm sure its to let the body gain back energy so you don't fry out and have a super short life expectancy.
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