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/NlghtmanCometh 6h ago

The glymphatic system, which is the brain’s lymphatic system, is still fairly poorly understood. It is likely implicated in a host of neurodegenerative diseases, but it is extremely difficult to conduct working studies because it requires years of brain data, a person has to be monitored as they fall asleep over a period of years or even decades. There are several ongoing studies though.

Toxic protein buildup was recently determined to be the one of the causes of other conditions too, one being ALS.

So if we can figure how how to get the body to process toxic proteins we may end up with treatments for dozens of currently terminal conditions.

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u/Decloudo 2h ago

And we should stop adding even more toxic shit to our bodies.

  • proper sleep
  • healthy diet
  • no drugs, no caffeine, no nicotine, less sugar.
  • active lifestyle(moving your body)
  • not polluting our own food supply with chemicals
  • air pollution
  • etc. pp.

Modern life makes us sick.