You are being brainwashed – and it’s good for you!
Danish scientists say they have gleaned new insight into our luminal system, which flushes out toxic build-up in the brain while we sleep.
This process is essential for healthy brain function and the possible prevention of disorders like Alzheimer’s disease — and it can be interrupted by at least one popular sleep aid, a new study has found.
The glymphatic system is similar to “turning on the dishwasher before going to bed and waking up with a clear brain,” said senior study author Maiken Nedergaard, of the University of Rochester and the University of Copenhagen. “We’re essentially asking what drives this process and trying to define restorative sleep based on lymphatic cleansing.”
Nedergaard and her team examined mice to see what happens inside their brains while they sleep. They found that their brainstem releases small waves of the molecule norepinephrine about once every 50 seconds during deep sleep.
Norepinephrine plays a key role in our fight-or-flight response by causing blood vessels to constrict, which increases blood pressure and prepares the body to respond to stressful situations.
The rhythmic dilation and contraction of blood vessels also pushes fluid around to remove waste from the brain.
“You can look at norepinephrine as the conductor of an orchestra,” said lead study author Natalie Hauglund, from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford in the UK. “There is a harmony in the constriction and dilation of the arteries, which then direct the cerebrospinal fluid through the brain to remove waste products.”
After Hauglund and Nedergaard confirmed that norepinephrine promotes brain clearing, they wanted to see if a sleep aid affects this process.
They gave the mice the insomnia drug zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien.
Although zolpidem-treated rats fell asleep faster, they had half as much norepinephrine wave activity during deep sleep and 30% less brain fluid transport than naturally sleeping rats.
The results suggest that the sedative may disrupt the brain’s clearing system during sleep.
“More and more people are using sleep medications, and it’s really important to know if that’s healthy sleep,” Hauglund said. “If people aren’t getting the full benefits of sleep, they need to be aware of it so they can make informed decisions.”
Hauglund said the findings, published Wednesday in the journal Cell Press Cell, are likely to apply to humans but require further testing.
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