r/science • u/Wagamaga • Oct 08 '24

Neuroscience Brain’s waste-clearance pathways revealed for the first time. Wastes include proteins such as amyloid and tau, which have been shown to form clumps and tangles in brain images of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

https://news.ohsu.edu/2024/10/07/brains-waste-clearance-pathways-revealed-for-the-first-time
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u/ghanima Oct 08 '24

Sleep is definitely essential to the brain's waste cleaning process, so poor sleep is almost certainly a factor in the development of dementia/Alzheimer's, but it's not the only one.

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u/Asstronaut08 Oct 08 '24

I’m a scientist studying the glymphatic system, 80% of it’s function happens during Deep Sleep

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u/moosepuggle Oct 08 '24

And to add, lots of substances intended to make you sleep will disrupt deep sleep, the most important part. Like THC alcohol benzos etc. I think I saw that trazedone and doxepin class drugs do not disrupt deep sleep, please feel free to correct this if more recent studies contradict that. I wear a smart watch to track my deep sleep every night, and aim for at least 1 hour of deep sleep every night. Still not sure how accurate smart watches are at detecting deep sleep based on heart rate, if anyone has good sources that investigated this, I'd love to read them!

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u/[deleted] Oct 09 '24

You’re exactly correct. Melatonin disrupts duration of deep sleep as per my sleep monitor. And so does magnesium glycinate. As well as Ashwaganda. All three of these will help me sleep longer, but slaughter the percent duration of deep sleep.

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u/mutantmeatball Oct 09 '24

Why does the magnesium do that?