LONDON:
It's a wake-up call for an estimated 150 million people who don't get
enough sleep. Scientists say sleep is the mechanism through which the
body flushes waste from the
human brain.
The brain's method of
waste removal — the
glymphatic system — is highly active during sleep, clearing away toxins responsible for
Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to a study.
Researchers say the brain's cells reduce in size during sleep, allowing
waste to be removed more effectively. "This study shows that the brain
has different functional states when asleep and when awake," said
Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Centre. "In fact,
the restorative nature of sleep appears to be the result of
the active clearance of the by-products that accumulate during wakefulness."
By 2030, the number of adults suffering from sleeplessness is projected
to be around 1.57 million, corresponding to over 260 million
experiencing sleep problems. Sleep disorders at present affect 5-10 % of
Indians.
The brain's process of clearing waste had long eluded
scientists for it couldn't be observed in the living brain till the
advent of new imaging technologies like two
photon microscopy.
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