Research have shown that the brain uses sleep to wash away the waste toxins built up during a hard day’s thinking.
“Waste removal system” is one of the fundamental reasons for sleep, the team of U.S. researchers believe.
Their
study, in the journal Science, showed brain cells shrink during sleep
to open up the gaps between neurons and allow fluid to wash the brain
clean.
They also suggest that failing to clear away some toxic proteins may play a role in brain disorders.
It
has been shown to have a big role in the fixing of memories in the
brain and learning, but a team at the University of Rochester Medical
Centre believe that “housework” may be one of the primary reasons for sleep.
“The
brain only has limited energy at its disposal and it appears that it
must choose between two different functional states – awake and aware or
asleep and cleaning up,” said researcher Dr Maiken Nedergaard.
“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 do both at the same
time.”
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