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  • Why do we have to sleep? I am losing valuable life

  • hours here!

  • Anthony here for DNews, and I have always wondered

  • just why exactly we have to sleep.

  • Do you know how much I can do if I

  • never got tired. Scientists wonder about it too.

  • Every animal participates in

  • some form of sleep, even though it puts us

  • all in an incredibly vulnerable state;

  • Anything can get you, seems wasteful.

  • So, it must perform some

  • function that is so important it is worth the

  • trade-off of being killed by a predator

  • who is on a slightly different work schedule.

  • There are a few theories. One is that it

  • gives us more time to repair our muscles

  • and cells. One is that it lowers the amount of

  • energy we need and less energy means less

  • meals, means less hunting and gathering, which we can't

  • really do in the dark anyway. One of

  • the recent and most popular theories

  • has to do with memory

  • consolidation. when we sleep, our

  • brain takes everything we have seen and done

  • throughout the day and filters through it. Looks

  • for patterns, sifts through what it finds an essential

  • and decides what to turn into a memory.

  • And some experts think that dreams

  • are a sort of representation of that;

  • It's like a nightly clean up. We've seen

  • evidence of it. Studies show that if you get

  • sleep right after practicing something that takes

  • fine motor skills, like typing or

  • playing an instrument, it helps you retain that

  • knowledge faster. Missing a night of sleep

  • can mess with attention, awareness

  • reasoning, problem solving skills. But

  • the super weird thing is that even

  • without sleep body repair

  • happens. So where is the big benefit?

  • Researchers from the University of Rochester

  • think they found it. Turns out sleep

  • isn't just a mental house cleaning for your brain,

  • it's a physical one. Your body

  • has got a great system for flushing

  • all the unneeded stuff out that piles up;

  • It's called the Lymphatic System. But the Lymphatic

  • system does not extend to your brain.

  • And your think box keeps itself

  • locked up behind something called the Blood Brain

  • Barrier, which tightly regulates everything

  • that comes in and out. Your brain controls everything

  • so it keeps itself in a high security

  • area where it can't be contaminated.

  • But it has to get rid of its waste products

  • somehow, but we have never actually been able to

  • see how. But using new technology

  • called Two Photon Microscopy,

  • the Rochester researchers were able to see the

  • brain's disposal system. They're calling it

  • The Glymphatic System. It's this plumbing

  • system that pumps cerebral spinal

  • fluid through brain tissue and then flushes

  • it into your circulatory system and the

  • Lymphatic system just takes it from there.

  • And here is where sleep comes in.

  • The Glymphatic system seem to be about

  • ten time more active during

  • sleep in mice. It seems like

  • pushing all that CSF through its system

  • requires a lot of energy, so your brain

  • makes a choice: Run your body

  • or clean itself. That seems to

  • be why our brain uses as much energy

  • when we are asleep as it does when we are

  • awake. Not only that, it looks like

  • brain cells shrink up to 60%

  • during sleep, so all that

  • CSF can wash over it faster.

  • So what makes this flushing

  • process more important that cell

  • repair or forming memories? Well,

  • build up of waste is linked to serious

  • brain diseases, like Alzheimer's. If you

  • don't shut down every night, your

  • brain can't clean itself out properly

  • enough. I don't know, are you guys getting enough

  • sleep? Let me know down below, but don't brag

  • and subscribe for more DNews.

Why do we have to sleep? I am losing valuable life

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