Discoveries of the Year - Another Useful Sleep Function

The brain of an experimental mouse during sleep. The red “stripes” in the image are cerebrospinal fluid flows during waste treatment.

A dream cleanses the brain of unnecessary information accumulated during wakefulness - a statement familiar, probably, to everyone else from school. In 2013, a somewhat more substantial explanation appeared regarding the role of sleep in human life.

People puzzled for a long time over evolutionary processes that led animals to the need to sleep - because this makes them easy prey for predators and puts other dangers. Brainwashing from protein debris and other tangible elements that have accumulated completely for themselves could well explain this phenomenon.
Researchers at the Rochester Medical Center in New York discovered the cleansing function of sleep while studying how the brain gets rid of waste.

The brain washes the space between its cells to get rid of debris formed during the life process, such as protein particles, which form plaques in people with Alzheimer's disease. After it was possible to obtain immobility from the experimental mice on the stage of the microscope, the researchers were able to measure fluid flow during wakefulness and during sleep. The space between cells increases by at least 60 percent when animals fall asleep, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to clear the brain of deposits. When animals wake up, some brain cells are probably those called astrocytes- swell, narrowing the space separating the cells.

If the waste disposal system is clogged, debris from hard-working nerve cells begins to accumulate. Scientists suggest that sleep deprivation or damage to the irrigation system can lead to the inability to fully cleanse the brain and, ultimately, contributes to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer 's and Parkinson’s .