This is an important discovery that researchers at the University of Rochester, in the United States, have just made. Their work, led by Dr Maiken Nedergaard, shows that brain cells take advantage of our periods of sleep to “clean” the brain of all the waste and toxins accumulated during the day. This discovery could advance our understanding of the biological functions of sleep and help find treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“While our body is asleep, the brain begins to speed up. And the brain cells shrink to help in this operation to cleanse the toxins resulting from the activity of neurons during waking periods ”insists the doctor. “In fact this cleaning work requires such an expenditure of energy on the part of the brain that it could not take place while we are awake. We would then no longer have enough energy to articulate our thoughts correctly “explains Dr Nedergaard who adds, to be sure that we understand the mechanism well:” Imagine that you were organizing a big party at home. First, you do the entertainment and take care of your guests and then, when they are gone, you clean the house. What is happening in your brain is the same! “
This discovery therefore paves the way for new research on Alzheimer’s disease which, like all degenerative diseases of the brain, is caused by a sort of intoxication of brain cells.
