Get Easy Health Digest™ in your inbox and don’t miss a thing when you subscribe today. Plus, get the free bonus report, Mother Nature’s Tips, Tricks and Remedies for Cholesterol, Blood Pressure & Blood Sugar as my way of saying welcome to the community!
How day sleeping clogs your brain and increases risk for brain disorders
Everyone’s sleep habits are different…
Some people have a hard time staying awake past 9 p.m. and find themselves up well before the sun. Others like to stay up into the wee hours of the night and then sleep until lunchtime.
Sometimes these habits are based on preference. Other times they’re based on necessity. Some people have jobs that force them to wake up at the crack of dawn. Others have jobs where they get home from work at the crack of dawn.
I’d like to say to each his own… and to follow the sleep habits that come naturally to you and/or fit your lifestyle best. But I can’t give you that advice in good conscience. Why?
Because all sleep isn’t created equal. The human body was designed to sleep during the night and stay awake during the day. When we force it to operate differently, it has a hard time adapting.
In fact, research shows there may be certain critical functions that your body will only perform during a nighttime sleep session… like clearing all the wastes out of your brain.
«SPONSORED»
The brain’s waste-clearing system prefers to work at night
A new study from researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) shows that the brain’s glymphatic system may only perform the critical function of clearing away wastes when you sleep at night.
In case you don’t know, the glymphatic system is like a network of plumbing in your brain. It runs along the same path as your blood vessels and pumps cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) through brain tissue, clearing out waste. It was discovered in 2012 by URMC researchers. And a few years later, researchers learned that it mostly functions while we’re asleep.
In this latest study, researchers examined the glymphatic system in mice. Mice are nocturnal by nature, so their natural sleep-wake cycle is the opposite of ours. Researchers found that when they were anesthetized all day long, their glymphatic system still only functioned during their typical rest period. Researchers believe this may translate over to humans and that people who get their rest during the day may be missing out on the important waste clearing the glymphatic system performs.
Past studies have shown that disrupted sleep can cause the glymphatic system to stop functioning correctly, which allows toxic proteins to build up in the brain. According to researchers, this puts people at risk for developing neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer’s. And they suspect this may be the case for people sleeping during the day too.
“Circadian rhythms in humans are tuned to a day-wake, night-sleep cycle,” said Lauren Hablitz, Ph.D., first author of the new study and a research assistant professor in the URMC Center for Translational Neuromedicine. “Because this timing also influences the glymphatic system, these findings suggest that people who rely on cat naps during the day to catch up on sleep or work the night shift may be at risk for developing neurological disorders. In fact, clinical research shows that individuals who rely on sleeping during daytime hours are at much greater risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia along with other health problems.”
Give your glymphatic system the support it needs to clear out brain wastes
So, if you follow unconventional sleep patterns, you may want to reconsider and embrace the whole “early to bed, early to rise” lifestyle. If your job requires you to work the night shift, it may be time to start plotting out a career change. It’ll take time and effort to make it happen, but if it benefits your long-term brain health, it may be worth it.
Beyond switching from daytime to nighttime sleeping, there are other ways to help your glymphatic system do a stand-up job of clearing wastes. In fact, a 2018 study found that there are three ways to help your glymphatic system do its job better:
- Sleeping more. As we know, sleep stimulates the glymphatic system. So, if you want better brain health, get plenty of z’s. If you really want to give your glymphatic system a helping hand, another study showed you should sleep on your side.
- Increasing your heart rate improves the efficiency of your glymphatic system. That explains why countless other studies show that exercising improves brain health and decreases your risk of dementia.
- Drinking a tiny, tiny bit of alcohol. Researchers found that alcohol can encourage your brain to clean out wastes too. Researchers recommend drinking about 25 ml of wine per day. That’s less than an ounce. They also warned that if you drink too much it will have the opposite effect on your brain.
Sources:
Circadian rhythms help guide waste from brain — EurekAlert!
More sleep and a drop of wine can help prevent dementia, researchers find — The Telegraph.
By Jenny Smiechowski
«SPONSORED»
