Sleep–It’s Better For Us Than We Realized

Were you one of those little kids for whom nap time was dreaded—you didn’t want to go to sleep because you might miss something? Well it turns out that sleeping might help us miss something more than we realized–the chance of developing dementia. Why, you might ask? Turns out the results of a recent study done by Dr. Maiken Nedergaard (lead author) and colleagues show that sleep helps a brain “take out the trash” according to an October 17, 2013 news story from  the U. of Rochester Medical Center. (I was instantly enamored by the title of the article:  To Sleep, Perchance to Clean). The article explains lots of technical reasons that this happens and notes that this trash-dumping includes “clearing away toxins responsible for Alzheimer’s….”  The report was published in the October issue of Science Magazine. A subscription is required to read the article in its entirety, but an abstract may be found here.

I just think about how one feels refreshed after a good night’s sleep….and perhaps we are one step closer in knowing why–the trash has been dumped…. Now if I could just dump some of those song lyrics from the 60s to make more room for important items, such as what was I doing before I sat down to write this blog, Oh I know zzzzzzzzzzzzz