Healthy Brains Need Good Sleep
A Glimpse at the Glymphatic System Shows Why
Only in the last decade have researchers uncovered how the brain collects and expels trash: the glymphatic system. The initial glimpse of the glymphatic system revealed that it flushes cellular debris and waste from the brain primarily during sleep. More recently, research on mice indicates that our twenty-four-hour biological clocks also help determine when to engage the glymphatic system. Our newfound knowledge about how the glymphatic system works emphatically reinforces the importance of not just obtaining enough hours of sleep but sleeping at consistent times, as well.
The Lymphatic System
Before delving into the glymphatic system, it helps to understand the basics of our lymphatic system, responsible for regulating fluids and cleansing molecular rubbish from our bodies.
Like a kid who’s dumbstruck by dump trucks, I’m in awe of the lymphatic system, but also aware that many people aren’t that familiar with what it is or what it does. Some people go so far as to say there is no lymphatic system and want to divvy it up between the circulatory system and the immune system. Lymph, the central character of the lymphatic system, cements the system’s obscurity by being a wan, watery fluid, similar to blood plasma, the liquid…
