If you’re a teenager, you’re probably majorly sleep deprived. According to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, teenagers get “between 7 to 7¼ hours” of sleep, though “they need between 9 and 9½ hours.” But you had your reasons for staying up. You were finishing homework. You had some urgent binge-watching to do. Or you were lying in bed, calming your nerves by aimlessly scrolling down an unchanging Instagram feed. We’ve all been there.
But what you don’t know is, for every extra second you’re awake, your brain is getting filthier and filthier. It’s not dust, garbage, or dirty laundry that invades the brain. It’s something much more serious.
Amyloid-beta and tau proteins are two waste products thought to be associated with one of the most devastating neurodegenerative diseases that affect approximately one-third of all people aged 85 years or older: Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the main cause of dementia, leading to defective memory, language complications, and unpredictable behavior. The accumulation of amyloid plaques and tau tangles in and around neurons disrupts the connections between neurons and results in deterioration of the brain.
But scientists have found that the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain rushes through the brain tissue to flush out these toxins. Think of it as a sink: it washes grime that has accumulated while you were awake down a drain. The system that the brain uses to do this is called the glymphatic system. What has intrigued scientists most is its connection to other aspects of human life; namely, sleep.
It was found that the glymphatic system is significantly more active during the sleeping state than while awake. During sleep, the volume of space between neurons in the brains of animals increases by 60%, as a result of the brain cells’ decrease in size. More space allows for the CSF to flow in and clear away the waste more efficiently. In fact, experiments show that the observed restorative properties of sleep are likely to be a consequence of the increased removal of neurotoxic products in the brain. And, of course, the more neurotoxic products are removed from the brain, the more unlikely it is for one to suffer from neurodegenerative diseases that are caused by aggregated proteins in the brain – Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, and Lou Gehrig’s Disease to name a few.
Thus, sleep is integral for the effective clearance of these toxins and in turn the prevention of neurodegenerative disease.
Health, especially that of the brain, is often overlooked and compromised in favor of other things that seem more pressing at that moment. But it is crucial to understand that neurodegenerative diseases are progressive, and develop over a long period of time. The attention we fail to give it now will ultimately take a heavy toll on us in the long run. So, the next time you find yourself awake until dawn, remember that those precious hours of sleep that you are losing will affect your declining years more than you think.
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