7/27/2019 The Neuroscience Behind How Sleep Cleans Your Brain _ Fast Company _ Business + Innovation.pdf

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LEADERSHIP NOW

THE NEUROSCIENCE BEHIND HOW SLEEPCLEANS YOUR BRAIN

YOU CLEAN YOUR CLOSET SOMETIMES. WHAT ABOUT YOUR BRAIN?

BY : DRAKE BAER

We know that getting even a measly extra hour of sleep a night can

have major benefits for us--like more memories, less anxiety, and happier

genes. But scientists have tested another hypothesis for why we need to

spend so much time horizontal: Sleep cleans our brains.

Ian Sample, the appropriately named science writer for the Guardian,

summarizes the phenomenon this way:

Through a series of experiments on mice, the researchers showed

that during sleep, cerebral spinal fluid is pumped around the

brain, and flushes out waste products like a biological

dishwasher.

The process helps to remove the molecular detritus that brain

cells churn out as part of their natural activity, along with toxic

proteins that can lead to dementia when they build up in the

brain, the researchers say.

We might want to take these conclusions with a grain of cerebral salt,

given that human brains are more mightily complex than those of mice.

Still, the results are super fascinating. As published in the journal Science,

University of Rochester professor Maiken Nedergaard led a team that

found out that the brain cells of mice shrink while they sleep--creating a

space between them that's 60% bigger, which allows for the cerebral

spinal fluid in their brains to flow 10 times faster while sleeping than while

waking.

Then they wanted to see how the

mice brains did with toxins, so they

injected them with proteins

associated with Alzheimer's disease-

-and found the proteins werecleaned up faster in the brains of

sleeping mice.

This is super fascinating because we've known about the effects of better

sleep, like the memory consolidation that we need to remember our lives,

YOU CAN THINK OF IT LIKE

HAVING A HOUSE PARTY. . . .

YOU CAN EITHER

ENTERTAIN THE GUESTS OR

CLEAN UP THE HOUSE, BUT

YOU CAN'T REALLY DOBOTH AT THE SAME TIME.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/sleep-cleans-our-brains-say-scientists?CMP=twt_fdhttp://www.fastcompany.com/3019940/leadership-now/the-huge-hidden-benefits-of-an-extra-hour-of-sleephttp://www.fastcompany.com/https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/people/23788299-maiken-nedergaardhttp://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/373http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/oct/17/sleep-cleans-our-brains-say-scientists?CMP=twt_fdhttp://www.fastcompany.com/3019940/leadership-now/the-huge-hidden-benefits-of-an-extra-hour-of-sleephttp://www.fastcompany.com/user/drake-baerhttp://www.fastcompany.com/section/leadership-nowhttp://www.fastcompany.com/

7/27/2019 The Neuroscience Behind How Sleep Cleans Your Brain _ Fast Company _ Business + Innovation.pdf

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but Nedergaard's research sheds light on the actual mechanics of what's

happening while we're not waking. If the same holds true for humans, then

sleep may be a key to fighting dementia and other degenerative diseases,

since it's the time that your brain sweeps clean the toxins that are laying

about.

"You can think of it like having a house party," Nedergaard said in a

statement. "You can either entertain the guests or clean up the house, but

you can't really do both at the same time."

The takeaway for us knowledge workers? If we want to keep our

knowledge working--and stay creative into our 80s, we need to figure out

how to get amazing sleep.

Hat tip: the Guardian.com

[Image: Flickr user Lee Haywood]

DRAKE BAER

Likes intersections and indices, wr ites about work culture, once made

a slow walk around the world. Once walked kora around the world. Co-

author of Everything Connects, a book about minds, relationships, and

innovation, with Faisal Hoque, out in February. Email him: dbaer at

fastcompany.com.

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