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This is clearly a sign on how important the glymphatic system is for the brain: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nedergaard-how-th...

⬐ tilt_error

She repeatedly says "the brain does not have a lymphatic system", but wasn't that discovered to be incorrect prior to this video recording?

What am I missing?

⬐ godmodus

I too thought synapses clean themselves during deep sleep, just not that we'll understood. And as far the lymph system + brain article(0) links =>(0) 2015 https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/lymphat...

⬐ majkinetor

As a reference: http://neurosciencenews.com/lymphatic-system-brain-neurobiol...

⬐ saxonklaxon

Apart from getting enough sleep, any tips for how to support or enhance this maintenance process?

⬐ pizza

My very uninformed and probably incorrect hunch is to increase the amount of water flow in your body before bed - i.e. drink a glass of water or two. Counterbalance in the case of any frequent urges to wake up in the middle of the night to urinate..

⬐ teperpencoli

Anyone have a tl;dr?

⬐ quickben

From other sources, while you sleep the brain changes permeability to allow stuff to be flushed out. I'm sorry I can't watch this vid now so it may be having different take/information.

⬐ majkinetor

Its tl/dw I guess

⬐ cheeko1234

Recent research shows that a major function for sleep may be to facilitate the brain’s janitorial functions. Waste products and the detritus of daily thinking can be removed during nightly sleep. This cleaning function allows our brains to work properly and may account for why we generally feel brighter and happier in the mornings.

Other organs and tissues are "cleaned" using the lymphatic system that almost works as a sewage system for the body. The lymphatic system does not extend into the brain. The so-called "blood-brain barrier" limits fluid channel exchanges between the brain and the rest of the body to protect the brain.

The extracellular fluid in the brain – the wetness between the neurons – is part of a system that essentially flushes the brain and removes waste. This has been named the glymphatic system. It was previously thought that waste products were metabolized and broken down by the neurons themselves and the results of that breakdown carried away in capillaries and ultimately removed by the kidneys.

http://www.sleepdex.org/reboot.htm

⬐ jon2k17

anyone have a transcribed version of this?

⬐ DrScump

(March 2016, video)

⬐ dang

Thanks! Added above.

⬐ amelius

Is this also how substances like caffeine get removed from the brain?

⬐ pizza

No. Drug-breakdown processes have long been studied, whereas this is something new. Drugs like caffeine are removed by metabolic enzymes in multiple stages - e.g. here is a flowchart of caffeine's metabolic pathway https://s3.pgkb.org/pathway/PA165884757.png?versionId=XtszC7...

⬐ semi-extrinsic

But that's not how caffeine is removed from the brain - that entire flowchart says "liver cell". Is one to understand that as the liver cleans blood of caffeine, and this low-caffeine blood eventually goes up to the brain, caffeine diffuses somehow (across the blood/brain barrier) into the bloodstream and is then carried to the liver?

⬐ pizza

Essentially, to my knowledge.. of relevance:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distribution_(pharmacology)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacokinetics

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADME

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compartment_(pharmacokinetics)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearance_(pharmacology)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_protein_binding

It is not pollution, it is the noise and the low quality of sleep that causes dementia. Good sleep quality is important so the glymphatic system that cleans the brain of garbage while sleeping can work well. See this recent article: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nedergaard-how-th...

⬐ amai

A shorter video is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96aZtk4hVJM

⬐ collyw

That was my first thought. I went to visit a friend in the middle of nowhere in Norway last year. Coming back to a big city a week later I really noticed the level of noise you get in a big city and found it quite hard for the first few days back.

⬐ 27182818284

Had a similar experience recently overseas. Was shocked at how quiet it was--and I"m not like living in NYC or something back in the US--it is a clear difference from even a smaller city.

⬐ princeb

i wonder how much the road noise is affecting me especially since I quite like the overnight hum of the roads. a highway provides a much more even white noise experience while city road noise is more grainy.

the closest experience to the city hum that i could find in the country is probably the seaside, and i have to say, it is a very comforting experience.

⬐ Reason077

It is not pollution

PM2.5 particles from vehicle emissions are small enough to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and have been shown to end up in brain tissue.

Even if it isn't a direct cause of dementia, air pollution contributes to cardiovascular diseases which are themselves risk factors for dementia.

⬐ pasbesoin

I'll add my speculative observation to the mix: Pollution aggravates my allergies, and when I'm having an allergic reaction, I have poorer sleep.

I suspect this result may be reflective of multiple factors that remain to be associated, qualified, and quantified with respect to this overall correlation.