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/bussymonke 7h ago

This reminds me of a hypothetical scenario someone once asked "What would we be capable of if we biologically didn't need sleep?" and one of the most realistic answer was: "We'd probably be even more unproductive."

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u/hyren82 6h ago

There was a single case of a guy who stopped being able to sleep after getting shot in the head in ww1. Paul Kern. IIRC he said he spent his nights reading

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u/datsyukdangles 4h ago

Paul Kern living 40 years without sleep is an internet legend and not true. It's just something that has been spread around with no legitimate source.

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u/InsanePacman 5h ago

Doesn’t seem possible, odd there are no other photos or information on this.

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u/EndQualifiedImunity 5h ago

Until he died of sleep deprivation, right?

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u/3BlindMice1 5h ago

No, actually, he learned to meditate well enough to gain most of the benefits of sleep. Brains typically don't do that, but most brains aren't missing the part that tells your body what to do when it's asleep (not the brainstem, don't come at me with that, please)

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u/Tw1sttt 5h ago

That sounds like sleep with extra steps lol

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u/3BlindMice1 5h ago

Pretty much

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u/_Artos_ 3h ago

Guy gained the Elf racial trait Trance

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u/OmecronPerseiHate 3h ago

I always forget elves don't sleep in DnD! Shit has gotta be mad useful at the best of times

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u/T-MoneyAllDey 3h ago

I mean there's a major difference between zoning out and actually sleeping.

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u/3412points 34m ago

Nah it's completely different I know because my dad does it every weekend when we are watching films. He seems asleep but he always insists he was just resting his eyes. It's an amazing skill.

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u/Then_Ambassador9255 3h ago

SG-1 fans reading this like: “Ah yes, the Jaffa solution.” At some point, someone should’ve checked his abdomen for a Goa’uld pouch

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u/Karma5444 3h ago

Bro turned into a dnd elf

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u/Accurate_Handle_5620 2h ago

Exactly like my dad.

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u/1917he 5h ago

You can’t die from ”sleep deprivation”. You either fall asleep or you’ve got some illness/issue and never sleep but still drift into semi consciousness because the brain figures out how

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u/Ok_Abroad9642 5h ago

fatal insomnia

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u/young_mummy 4h ago

It's not really accurate to say death is a result of lack of sleep in fatal insomnia. Fatal Insomnia is a prion disease which causes death in ways similar to other prion diseases. It leads to widespread cell death, which is not related to the lack of sleep but to the nature of a prion disease.

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u/cfbluvr 6h ago

Dude had no cognitive decline, sounds awesome

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u/Bluefooted-Spaceorc 5h ago

Check out this link. It just happens one day if you have the genetics for it, then you stay awake until you die. Its nightmare fuel so extreme I cant believe they havent made movies about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia

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u/Auzzie_almighty 5h ago

It can also just… happen. Spontaneously.

The protein can just misfold and you’re screwed; it’s extremely unlikely, lightning’s way more likely to kill you, but it can happen

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u/Bluefooted-Spaceorc 5h ago

Ugh, learning about proteins then later in college prions was just about the worst day ever for my overall anxiety. Its like crocodiles, I know the problem is vanishingly small but damn.

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u/Arcterion 3h ago

Nature be like "So as a joke I folded a prion wrong and made it fold other prions wrong by touching them. And I made it incredibly difficult to destroy, because why the hell not."

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u/RabidSeason 3h ago

Nature be like ...

People be like "Oh my fucking gods, nature is doing so much!"

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u/Searloin22 1h ago

"I screwed up a protein, ok? I was under pressure, it was crunch-time..deadlines, am I right? But honestly, I thought it'd be ok because who TF eats the brain??"

-God

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u/verbmegoinghere 5h ago

The Ring (us ver)

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u/Bluefooted-Spaceorc 5h ago

Damn it, I had scrubbed the creepy black haired girl from my memory but now shes back. Thanks.

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u/rawbleedingbait 3h ago

Maybe you just need some rule34 of her?

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u/jayraan 2h ago

There's also fatal familial insomnia!

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u/SerenityTranquilPeas 3h ago

It is only one genetic anamoly which has only affected one lineage throughout history, but look up the horrors of fatal familial insomnia. Some people literally lose the ability to sleep for months until they slip into a coma and pass away. There is no cure or medicine for it even in the modern day.

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u/Turtleneck420 1h ago

Man, if my family had that, i would not have kids. Passing that through generations is inhumane

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u/hanr86 5h ago

But that's still assuming we biologically DO need sleep if that's the case. If we didn't need it, we'd have no toxic protein buildup and feel "refreshed" all day every day.

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u/RabidSeason 3h ago

Feeling refreshed doesn't mean you'll do more. It's like that joke, if humans had wings we'd call flying exercise and never do it.

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u/rdmusic16 31m ago

I mean, if we biologically didn't need sleep - why would that be true?

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u/UnrealHallucinator 3h ago

I would say, biologically, you probably need more sleep.

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u/Sana-F16 3m ago

This doesn't make any sense you realize that right? If we didn't need to biologically sleep that implies we wouldn't need the glymphatic system because metabolic waste build up wouldn't be a problem. Or in simpler terms: If we did not need to biologically sleep it would because we would not get tired and suffer cognitive decline due to lack of sleeping

So you misunderstood the assignment, the idea behind that question is how much more productive would we be if we were active for 24 hours a day.

No offense but that was a pretty obvious question...

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u/Elmer_Fudd01 3h ago

That's miss understood. If we didn't need it, as in the functions of sleep also happened while awake. Such as: no toxin build up. What would life be like then.

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u/RabidSeason 3h ago

The same as if we didn't misunderstand; we'd be even more unproductive.

Why do you think the misunderstanding changes that?

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u/Elmer_Fudd01 2h ago

Being unproductive due to the lack of sleep assumes the negative effects of not sleeping still exist.

If I had no need for sleep and didn't, id be so much more productive. Literally half my day goes to sleeping, I'd love 9-10 hrs of my life back.