Research tells us that we need to sleep to allow our brains to organize our memories and clean out the toxins that build up each day inside our brains. “If every one of us slept as much as we’re supposed to, we’d all weigh less, be less prone to developing Type 2 diabetes, and most likely better equipped to battle depression and anxiety. We might even lower our risk of Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and cancer,” quoted in Time Magazine’s The Power of Sleep.(1)
How Sleep May Wash Away the Brain Toxins Believed to Cause Alzheimer’s
Many factors contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, and a lack of sleep may be one of them. When scientists study the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, they find two types of abnormalities that can interfere with brain function. One is the build-up of a protein called beta-amyloid that tends to clump into plaques between nerve cells. The other is an abnormal functioning of a protein called tau that causes nerve cells to die and collapse in specific brain regions involved in memory.
A Dirty Brain Causes Poor Memory
Neuroscientists at UC Berkeley studied the effect of lack of sleep on the brain’s long-term memory. Study co-leaders Dr. William Jagust and Bryce Mander suggested a causal link between bad sleep, poor memory and the toxic buildup of beta-amyloid proteins. (2) “The more beta-amyloid you have in certain parts of your brain, the less deep sleep you get and, consequently, the worse your memory,” reported Dr. Matthew Walker in writing about this study. (2) Some researchers are looking for ways to slow amyloid plaque formation or to safely dissolve the plaques in the brain as a possible cure.
How Sleep May Wash Away the Brain Toxins
A 2019 study led by Dr. Laura Lewis at Boston University and published in the journal Science (1) has given us the first photos of how the brain cleans itself of the beta amyloid plaques and tau fragments while we are asleep. She was curious to learn why the brain only cleans itself during sleep.
There are four stages of sleep:
- Stage 1 is the transition from being awake to light sleep.
- Stage 2 is light sleep when the brain consolidates memory.
- Stage 3 is deep sleep where the brain waves of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF), happen maybe once every 20 seconds and cleaning occurs. Picture the cleaning cycle as a high tide coming onto shore and flowing as far as it can reach, then flowing out at low tide carrying the waste and leaving a clean beach behind.
- Stage 4 is the dream stage, also called REM for rapid eye movement.
This concept of how toxins leave the brain during sleep was first studied in mice by Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester in 2013. She studied the brains of mice when awake and when in sleep states. (4)
Dr. Nedergaard’s groundbreaking work laid the foundation for Dr. Lewis’s team to use today’s advanced technology to study this phenomenon in humans.
The good news is that we can foster sleeping habits that give us seven to eight hours of nourishing sleep by:
- Going to bed roughly at the same time every night and waking up roughly at the same time every morning
- Avoiding alcohol, caffeine or nicotine before bedtime
- Reading a book before sleep but not on a light-emitting device such as an iPad or Kindle
- Making the bedroom as dark as possible by turning off the TV and all electronics
- Setting the bedroom thermostat at a comfortable temperature • Meditating or doing deep breathing exercises to relax before bed
- Writing in a gratitude or success journal before going to sleep
Avoid sleeping pills if possible. When poor sleepers use sleeping pills such as Valium, Xanax, and Ativan to try and solve their sleep issues, they can experience cognitive decline and an increased risk for dementia. (5)
One last tip for sleep focuses on the proper sleep position. Side sleeping is an easy way to help the brain perform its garbage collection duties at night. In yoga, instructors recommend lying on the right side to stimulate left-nostril breathing. The left nostril is the calming side of the body and mind and left-nostril breathing helps the process of falling asleep. (6)
Always end the day with a positive thought. No matter how hard things were, tomorrow’s a fresh opportunity to make it better.” (Author unknown)
Kae Hammond
Author | dementiahelpcenter.com
1. Alice Park. “The Power of Sleep.” September 11, 2014. Time.com Time Magazine’s The Power of Sleep
2. Yasmin Anwar, “Poor Sleep Linked to Toxic Buildup of Alzheimer’s Protein, Memory Loss.” Berkeley News, June 1, 2015. https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/06/01/alzheimers-protein
3. Tuck.com.”Stages of Sleep and Sleep Cycles.” October 10, 2019. https://www.tuck.com/stages/
4. Kendra Cherry, “How Sleep Helps the Brain Clean Itself” Very Well Mind, October 30, 2019. Very Well Mind
5. “Benzodiazopines and the Alternatives,” Harvard Medical School. March 15, 2019. Harvard Health
6. Michael Breus, “How Your Sleep Position Affects Your Health, Your Dreams and Your Personality.” The Sleep Doctor.com. October 9, 2018. The Sleep Doctor