Brain, Sleep, and Toxins, 2

Researchers measured how long the dye lasted in the brain when the mice were asleep versus awake. They found that the dye flowed rapidly through mice brains when the mice were unconscious, either asleep or anesthetized. In contrast, the dye barely flowed when the same mice were injected with labeled beta-amyloid, a protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Beta-amyloid disappeared faster in mice brains when the mice were asleep, suggesting sleep normally clears toxic molecules from the brain. “These results may have broad implications for multiple neurological disorders,” said Jim Koenig, Ph.D., a program director at NINDS. It also suggests a new role for sleep and may highlight the critical importance of sleep for prevention as well as healthy on-going brain care. “We need sleep. It cleans up the brain,” said Maiken Nedergaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., co-director of the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, and a leader of the study.

Brain, Sleep, and Toxins

Researchers say that toxic molecules involved in neurodegenerative disorders accumulate in the space between brain cells. In a new study funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the NIH, researchers tested how these toxins are cleared from the brain. Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours. To determine whether the glymphatic system controls this process, researchers initially injected dye into the CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) of mice and watched it flow through their brains while simultaneously monitoring electrical brain activity. 

Brain and More Sleep, 2

Estimates are that the brain uses about 20-25 percent of the body’s total fuel consumption (even though the brain is about two percent of your total weight). What does it use this energy for, what does it do with it? According to Matthew Edlund, MD, in The Power of Rest, “most of the time and energy the brain uses is spent “talking to itself.” He references work by Neuroscientist Marcus Raichle, reported in an article in Science magazine (“The Brain’s Dark Energy”). He used the metaphor of dark energy because so much of what the brain does is unknown. In fact, Dr. Raichle estimates that between 60-80 percent of the brain’s total energy consumption is used communicating between individual neurons and their support cells. It would be fascinating to know exactly what they are saying to each other.

Brain and More Sleep

No doubt you’re familiar with the statistics that suggest 20 hours without sleep and your brain is likely functioning as a brain would that has reached the legal limit of alcohol intoxication. Studies also show that the sleep deprived brain often things it is “doing just fine, thank you very much,” when in fact is it not doing very well at all. Conclusions of research related to ‘accidents,’ vehicular as well as equipment, suggest that lack of sleep played a part in many of them. Each brain has an optimum sleep requirement. Mine is between 8-9 hours depending on how much challenging mental work my brain is doing, since it may take longer to recover from mental work as compared with physical work. What happens during sleep? More tomorrow.

Brain and Sleep

Generally I am very careful about giving my brain the sleep it needs. Recently I was meeting a deadline for some musical compositions and got only six hours of sleep one night instead of 9 (the amount my brain seems to need). The next day my brain was not firing efficiently on all cylinders. I misplaced my car keys, sent a computer file twice instead of two separate files, and included the same illustrations in two different chapters in my latest manuscript. It would be humorous if not so pathetic! In addition, I was scheduled to record musical interludes for insertion between chapters of one of my audio books. My executive producer—whose brain is wonderfully creative and one of my favorites on this planet—managed to get me through recording the last 8 selections—but it was like slogging through hot thick tar instead of swimming in Caribbean seas—fortunately he is a very patient man. I went to bed very early that night!

TV and Affirmations

 How much television you watch on a daily basis? First of all, watching TV is a 'passive picturing' activity. Your brain is just processing what other brains created. Second, I've been hard put to count very many 'affirming' comments on the average program. What you 'put in' your brain tends to 'put out.'  One reported daily average in the United States is 4 hours of TV viewing per day; 3 hours a day in Australia. Mostly I watch some TV when the Olympics are playing. I love to watch brains do their thing in real time. Four hours a day? Never! Recently I ran across the results of a six-year study of 8,800 Australian men and women (over age 25 with no history of heart disease) that was reported in the journal Circulation. Those who watched more than 4 hours of TV a day had an 80% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease over the 6-year time period as compared with people who watched 2 hours or less each day. The bottom line conclusion of the study? Too much TV is bad for your health. You may want to check out an article by Mark Stibich, PhD, on the topic.

http://longevity.about.com/od/liveto100/a/television-life-expectancy.htm

Children Believe . . .

Studies have shown that children believe what they are told. If they didn’t, likely the customs of Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, and others would gradually die away. Children also believe what they hear people say about them and directly to them. I certainly did! I not only believed it but also acted on it for way too long! In reality, however well-meant (or not), each brain only has its own opinion and can only share that opinion—unless it purports to share something it got from another brain. Because I became so clear about this, I now often preface a remark with, “My brain’s opinion is . . .” or “I am happy to share my brain’s opinion with you. . .” I encourage every brain to go through a similar type of exercise to avoid blindly following someone else’s script that may have little if anything to do with their own brain.