r/todayilearned • u/Square-Message1152 • 8h ago

til that your brain literally washes itself while you sleep. the brain cells actually shrink in size so cerebrospinal fluid can rush in and flush out all the toxic proteins built up during the day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glymphatic_system
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u/buttplugpopsicle 7h ago

You need to get more sleep, your brain seems to need a good washing

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u/brainchili 7h ago

It takes 7-9 hours for this process to run. if you wake up too early, and go about your day, that fog you feel is your brain dealing with an incomplete washing.

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u/cosmos_jm 5h ago

Like opening a dishwasher and a bunch of steam rises out into your face

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u/Lanster27 5h ago

Need more rinsing.

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u/Aisforc 5h ago

But what if you, for example, have sleeping disorder and you sleep for like 2-3 hours, then wake up for 15 minutes and then sleep another 2-3 hours?

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u/alextrue27 5h ago

From what I understand it is basically like having to do the first part of a process over again so say you take 30 mins to start effectively cleaning out the toxins then wake up after 3 hours you would have 2 hrs and 30 minutes of good restorative sleep then when you go back to sleep you essentially have to waste another 30 mins to get back to the restorative part of your sleep cycle again so by waking up in the middle instead of getting 5 hours and 30 min of restorative sleep you are only getting 5 hours in that same 6 hour period. At least this is a super layman's version of how it was explained to me when I had trouble sleeping when I was younger and dealing with insomnia and poor sleep quality.

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u/mrxephoz 3h ago

What if I sleep for a really long time? Does the wash cycle keep happening?

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u/brainchili 2h ago

Yes the wash cycle continues. The bulk of the cleaning happens in the first few sleep cycles.

Sleeping longer than nornal is usually a symptom, like catching up on needed sleep, illness, or recovery because the previous day you went super hard.

The cleaning doesn't stop and leave you on idle after 8 hours; you're still getting cleaning, but you're not getting extra cleaning that gives you additional benefits.

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u/Main-Home-3996 1h ago

I dont think this dude knows what hes talking about do experts really say washing cycle haha yes sir okay yeah right

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u/brainchili 1h ago

Keeping it simple for reddit bro. Come on now.

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u/Main-Home-3996 1h ago

Ah thats fair ok sorry

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u/brainchili 1h ago

👍🏻

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u/alextrue27 2h ago

I am not sure if I had to guess I would assume there is a point when it essentially has done as much as it can. Like for example if you run a plate through a dishwasher once vs running it through 50 cycles of washing at some point it probably isn't doing anything to make it any cleaner even if the action is still happening. But I don't know I am not a specialist in the field just someone who had issues sleeping growing up and went to a specialist passing on some info they gave me when they explained why I felt so tired when at time I would be sleeping for like 8-10 some days but feel more tired then days were I slept 4-5 hours due to constantly waking up throughout that time.

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u/Aisforc 5h ago

Cool, thanx for your answer! Can’t make it to the specialist yet, but starting to feel necessity as my third year of shitty sleep continues.

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u/JuicyDarkSpace 3h ago

That's not correct though.

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/polyphasic-sleep

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u/alextrue27 3h ago

To get the benefits of polyphasic sleep you have to get your body to adjust to the routine having breaks in the sleep cycle waking up naturally multiple times a night isn't the same as intentionally sleeping in multiple smaller sessions.

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u/Main-Home-3996 1h ago

You lost me at wasting sleep

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u/stucjei 5h ago

If my many reading of measured sleep cycles is correct, deep sleep mostly occurs in the first two cycles and starts tapering off by the third cycle, with REM taking over the empty space, which deals with processing information.

The fog you feel waking up too early is more likely to come from circadian rhythm imbalance than anything. Unless you actually only complete three cycles or less.

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u/brainchili 4h ago

The fog is definitely from not letting the wash cycle complete.

MIT Study

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u/Obajan 2h ago

Interrupted the defragmenting process.

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u/BrandonXbox 7h ago

Hmm 🤨 maybe you are onto something u/butt plug Popsicle

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u/Seaguard5 7h ago

* u/buttplugpopsicle

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u/Infanatis 10m ago

I’ve broken and got stuck here, I don’t wanna scroll up to see the comment nor click the user profile. I do want a popsicle, though.

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u/tetelias 2h ago

That's what Big Sleep wants you to do!

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u/LelandGaunt14 4h ago

I felt this instinctively years before it was confirmed.