Brain and Sleeping Position

Lying on the side is the most common sleep position for animals in the wild. New studies from Stony Brook University have found that a side-sleeping position seems to improve clearance of wastes from the brain. Amyloid beta, for example. When it builds up it can form plaques, a telltale characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. Using dynamic contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) researchers observed the glymphatic pathway of rodents under anesthesia in three different positions: on their sides (lateral position), backs (supine position), and bellies (prone position). The rodents who were in the lateral position cleared amyloid beta about 25 percent better than when in the prone or supine position. Some say sleeping on your left side is a preferred option. 

https://www.yahoo.com/health/the-best-sleep-position-for-your-brain-126105337202.html?soc_src=unv-sh&soc_trk=fb

Brain Consequences to Sleep Loss, 2

Brain Consequences to Sleep Loss, 2

Researchers at the University of Chicago found that rats, deprived of sleep for a long period of time, don’t live much past two weeks. It so happens that humans who are kept awake for too long begin to show some of the same signs as those study rats. Within the first twenty-four hours of sleep deprivation, the person’s blood pressure begins to rise, then the metabolism processes start to go haywire, which results in an uncontrollable craving for carbohydrates. Soon the body temperature drops and the immune system gets weaker. If this goes on for too long, there is a good chance that the mind will turn against itself, triggering brain phenomenon in which the person experiences visions and hears phantom sounds akin to a bad acid trip. At the same time, the ability to make simple decisions or recall obvious facts drops off severely. It is a bizarre downward spiral that is all the more peculiar because it can be stopped (if it isn’t too late) by sleeping. Are you making obtaining the sleep your brain needs a priority?

David K. Randall, Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep

Brain Consequences to Sleep Loss

Researchers at the University of Chicago (in the ‘80s) wanted to find out what happens when animals (rats) are deprived of sleep for a long period of time. As the rats went longer and longer without sleep, their bodies began to develop strange spots and festering sores that didn't heal, their fur started to fall out in large clumps, and they lost weight no matter how much food they ate. So the researchers decided to perform autopsies, and lo and behold they found nothing wrong with the animals' organs that would lead them to fail­ing so suddenly. This mystery gnawed at scientists so much that twenty years later, another team decided to do the exact same experiment, but with better instruments. This time, they thought, they will find out what happens inside of a rat's body during sleep deprivation that ultimately leads to its death. Again the rats stayed awake for more than two weeks, and again they died after developing gnarly sores. But just like their peers in Chicago years earlier, the scientists could find no clear reason for the rats’ demise. The lack of sleep itself looked to be the killer. Their conclusion was that staying awake for so long drained the animal, causing it to lose the ability to regulate its body temperature. More tomorrow.

Sleep Before Midnight, 4

As with other biologic beings, the human brain responds to its environment and to a circadian rhythm. In general for much of the planet, darkness falls by nine or ten in the evening, and sunlight arises by five or six in the morning. Scientists say that when people impose a variation of this rhythm on the brain by going to be too late, real health consequences can occur. These include increased anxiety; a higher risk of being involved in a sleep-related vehicle crash; an increase in systemic inflammation that can cause pain and soreness and may lead to osteoporosis or autoimmune diseases; and an increased risk for cardiovascular events, such as stroke or myocardial infarction. A shorter duration of nocturnal melatonin secretion (due to inadequate amounts of sleep) has been associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. The Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study showed that too little sleep apparently alters the regulation of appetite-regulating hormones and is linked with obesity. It’s beginning to look like ‘Early to bed and early to rise’ is not an old wives’ tale.

Sleep Before Midnight, 3

The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) containing your biological clock, also governs your body temperature, hormone secretion, urine production, and changes in blood pressure. This complex system is also automatically linked with the rhythms of light and dark, day and night. A nearly immediate effect of going to bed after midnight is that it throws off your natural circadian rhythms, governed by your SCN, and this may lead to insomnia. As well as having a harder time falling asleep, you also will likely have trouble staying asleep. Even if you have a schedule that allows you to wake later, the noise and commotion of the day beginning will in all likelihood wake you before you wish. Studies have shown that night shift workers, despite having a schedule that allows for an adequate amount of sleep, get less sleep than those who work days. More tomorrow.

Sleep Before Midnight, 2

Routine changes in your behavioral, mental, and physical functions that occur over the course of a day are regulated by your 'biological clock.' This tiny area of the brain, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is about the size of a grain of rice and shaped a little like a pine cone. It contains about 20,000 neurons. When light enters your eye, it activates neurons in the retina that convert photons (light particles) to electrical signals. These signals travel along the optic nerve to the SCN which in turn stimulates several brain regions, including the pineal gland. The pineal gland responds by switching off production of the hormone melatonin, and this makes you feel more awake. After darkness falls, your biological clock or suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) SCN signals your pineal gland again and your body's level of melatonin increases, making you feel drowsy. More tomorrow.

Sleep Before Midnight

My mother used to say, “The two hours of sleep I get before midnight are the best two hours of the night.” I wondered about that until I read comments by Matthew P. Walker, PhD, director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The earlier in the night, the greater the propensity for deep non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, and the later in the morning, the greater the propensity for REM sleep. Therefore, someone who sleeps from 9p.m. to 5a.m. (8 hours total) will have a different overall composition of sleep—biased towards more non-REM—than someone who sleeps from 3a.m. to 11a.m. (also 8 hours total), who is likely to experience more REM. Going to bed too late, then, will deprive you of some of the restorative functions that non-REM sleep normally provides. More tomorrow.