How to Help Detox Your Brain by Understanding Your Glymphatic System

Ever wonder why you’re always reading about how important sleep quality is -- not just quantity?  Well, modern science still doesn’t know all of the molecular mechanisms behind why we need sleep. As of last month, we now know more.

A new study, published in Science in October and entitled “Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain,” finds just that: we need to sleep specifically so that the brain can focus on cleaning itself out each night.

Lead study author Dr. Maiken Nedergaard summarizes in a statement: “the restorative nature of sleep appears to be the result of the active clearance of the by-products of neural activity that accumulate during wakefulness.”

The study’s abstract states:

We here report that sleep has a critical function in ensuring metabolic homeostasis. Using real-time assessments of tetramethylammonium diffusion and two-photon imaging in live mice, we show that natural sleep or anesthesia are associated with a 60% increase in the interstitial space, resulting in a striking increase in convective exchange of cerebrospinal fluid with interstitial fluid. In turn, convective fluxes of interstitial fluid increased the rate of ?-amyloid clearance during sleep. Thus, the restorative function of sleep may be a consequence of the enhanced removal of potentially neurotoxic waste products that accumulate in the awake central nervous system.

While you rest, your brain is busy sweeping the floor, washing the dishes, and taking out the trash to prepare itself for the next day.

Your Glymphatic System: The Good Kind of “Brain Drain”

You probably haven’t read much about the glymphatic system because it hasn’t hit the mainstream, but you will.

In 2012, researchers identified this new maintenance system called the glymphatic system, which uses the cells’ mitochondria to remove cellular waste from the brain. It found that the clear cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain is what is responsible for draining toxins from the brain, much like how the lymph system in other organs is what removes waste from those cells to the kidney and liver.  But the brain has no lymph – it has CSF instead.

The scientists noted that this system is particularly active during sleep. In other words, as you sleep your brain cells’ mitochondria remove cellular waste.

Things you can do during the waking hours that may positively influence the way cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) enters the brain’s glymphatic system later when you sleep:

Yoga and movement (especially inversions)

Standing instead of sitting at your desk which may move more CSF

Pranayama and just about any other breathing exercices

Massage and chiropractic care

Hydration

In the News: Lack Of Deep Sleep May Set The Stage For Alzheimer's

Jeffrey Iliff (right) and Bill Rooney, brain scientists at Oregon Health & Science University, look over an MRI. The school has an especially sensitive MRI unit that should be able to detect precisely when during sleep the brain is being cleansed of toxins.

There's growing evidence that a lack of sleep can leave the brain vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease.

"Changes in sleep habits may actually be setting the stage" for dementia, says Jeffrey Iliff, a brain scientist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

The brain appears to clear out toxins linked to Alzheimer's during sleep, Iliff explains. And, at least among research animals that don't get enough solid shut-eye, those toxins can build up and damage the brain.

Iliff and other scientists at OHSU are about to launch a study of people that should clarify the link between sleep problems and Alzheimer's disease in humans.

It has been clear for decades that there is some sort of link. Sleep disorders are very common among people with Alzheimer's disease.

For a long time, researchers thought this was simply because the disease was "taking out the centers of the brain that are responsible for regulating sleep," Iliff says. But two recent discoveries have suggested the relationship may be more complicated.

The first finding emerged in 2009, when researchers at Washington University in St. Louis showed that the sticky amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's develop more quickly in the brains of sleep-deprived mice.

Then, in 2013, Iliff was a member of a team that discovered how a lack of sleep could be speeding the development of those Alzheimer's plaques: A remarkable cleansing process takes place in the brain during deep sleep, at least in animals.

What happens, Iliff says, is "the fluid that's normally on the outside of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid — it's a clean, clear fluid — it actually begins to recirculate back into and through the brain along the outsides of blood vessels."

This process, via what's known as the glymphatic system, allows the brain to clear out toxins, including the toxins that form Alzheimer's plaques, Iliff says.

Scientists watch dye flow through the brain of a sleeping mouse.Nedergaard Lab, University of Rochester Medical Center.

"That suggests at least one possible way that disruption in sleep may predispose toward Alzheimer's disease," he says.

To know for sure, though, researchers will have to study this cleansing process in people, which won't be easy.

Iliff studied the glymphatic system in living mice by looking through a window created in the skull. The system also involved a powerful laser and state-of-the-art microscope.

With people, "we have to find a way to see the same sort of function, but in a way that is going to be reasonably noninvasive and safe," he says.

The solution may involve one of the world's most powerful magnetic resonance imaging machines, which sits in a basement at OHSU. The MRI unit is so sensitive, it should be able to detect changes that indicate precisely when the glymphatic system gets switched on in a person's brain, says Bill Rooney, who directs the university's Advanced Imaging Research Center.

When humans enter deep sleep, and toxin removal begins, there should be a particular change in the signal coming from certain salt molecules. That would indicate that fluid has begun moving freely through the brain.

In young, healthy brains, the signal should be "robust," Rooney says, indicating that the toxin removal system is working well. In the brains of older people, and those who are likely to develop Alzheimer's, the signal should be weaker.

Rooney and Iliff have received funding from the Paul G. Allen Foundation to test their approach. They hope to begin scanning the brains of participants within a year.

One challenge, though, will be finding people able to fall asleep in the cramped and noisy tunnel of the magnetic resonance machine.

"It's a tricky thing because it's a small space," Rooney says. "But we'll make people as comfortable as possible, and we'll just follow them as they go through these natural stages of sleep."

If Rooney and Iliff are right, the experiment will greatly strengthen the argument that a lack of sleep can lead to Alzheimer's disease. It might also provide a way to identify people whose health is at risk because they aren't getting enough deep sleep, and it could pave the way to new treatments.

"It could be anything from having people exercise more regularly, or new drugs," Rooney says. "A lot of the sleep aids don't particularly focus on driving people to deep sleep stages."

HuffingtonPost Blog: Ten Sleep Mistakes You're Probably Making

Too many of us are guilty of a prime sleep mistake: underestimating its importance. Whereas nutrition and exercise are widely acknowledged as so-called "pillars of health," sleep, while well-deserving of such high praise, is often maligned as something that's "for the weak."

But even those of us who have learned to value sufficient shut-eye aren't necessarily sleep saints. In fact, there are a number of myths that derail us and mistakes that prevent us from peacefully drifting off to the Land of Nod. Some of the biggest ones are in the slideshow below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/19/sleep-mistakes_n_3461583.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living

Tuggy Keeper of the Sleep: The Origin Story

Before there was Tuggy -- there was Chuggy. I first set my eyes on Chuggy at my friend Robin's casa.

Robin and his gal-pal Angela were gracious enough to invite me to their Oak Cliff homestead for dinner in April. After getting tangled-up in a malestrom of interstate confusion, misdirected road-rage, and arriving an hour and a half late, I was treated to a fine meal and a tour of the house.

Robin is an avid art, photography, and design patron. His place is tastefully stocked with fabulous period design pieces, topped off with an elegant sound system. Like me, Robin is a mainstream jazz fan. He lives artfully.

Anway, rather unexpectedly, what riveted my attention that night was not the collection of fine objects d'art -- it was the irresistible charm of Chuggy. He was peering down from an armoire, standing watch over the king-size bed below.

 "Who's that?," I exclaimed, feeling a undenialable kinship and magical connection with the little fellow.

"That's Chuggy, the Keeper of Sleep and Drinks. I've carried him with me ever since I was a small child -- even during my overseas stint in the Army," Robin answered. "He's traveled with me everywhere, and he makes sure I enjoy good sleep."

Ah, such sweet slumber, I knew it was true. With my recent disastrous trauma from chronic insomnia, I could dig a helpful Sleep Keeper like Chuggy.

Chuggy, who was named after the popular Roger Miller song "Chug-a-lug," started out as a Santa Claus doll, until Robin's mother transformed and clothed with exotic fashions on four or five different occasions.

As a long-time fan of John Stanley's stories in Marge's Little Lulu and Tubby comics, I seized upon a familial relationship based loosely around the relatonship Tubby Thompkins and his doppleganger cousin," Chubby. Chubby is the pint-sized "mini-me" look-alike of Tubby. Since Robin already had Chuggy, which sounded more than a bit like Chubby, I would conversely pay tribute to Tubby's moniker with Tuggy for a Sleep Keeper of my own.

Tubby Thompkins and his cousin, Chubby. These two amuse me to no end,

So, to eBay. The closest "relative" to Chuggy I could find was a Gingerbread Man, described as an African-American-made vintage doll.

I committed to the $12.50 Buy It Now price, and a few days later Tuggy arrived. His round eyes were blank white circles which made him look a little too much like Saturday Night Live's "Sluggo" from the Mr. Bill segment for comfort, so I drew in some eyelids and a smile using a red Sharpie pen -- an attempt to make him look friendlier and dreamy.

I added an accent of soporific healing bling to Tuggy's garb by accesorizing his look with a cosmic Calvin Begay-crafted Navajo Bear Pendant around his neck.

Tuggy is small enough to ride around in a men's dress shirt pocket.

Older, uptight, white people at the coffee shop have cringed and carped that Tuggy somehow presents an unflattering rascist caricature. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tuggy is simply a magical Gingerbread Man, made with molasses (from the Latin root for "honey") and love.

He's a soulful Keeper of the Sleep and the cousin of Chuggy.

Chuggy with Tuggy at Robin's house on Father's Day 2013.

Kelly Bulkeley Ph.D. Blog: What Does Science Know About Dreams?

El sueño de la razón produce monstruos (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters) Francisco Goya, aquatint etching, 1797-99. This is plate 43 of the 80 etchings making up the Los Caprichos series. In the etching that might have served as the frontispiece to his suite of satires, Los Caprichos, Goya imagined himself asleep amid his drawing tools, his reason dulled by sleep, and bedeviled by creatures that prowl in the dark. The artist's nightmare reflected his view of Spanish society, which he portrayed in the Los Caprichos series as demented, corrupt, and ripe for ridicule. It consists of a self-portrait of the artist with his head on a table, as owls and bats surround him, assailing him as he buries his head into his arms. Seemingly poised to attack the artist are owls (symbols of folly) and bats (symbols of ignorance). The full epigraph for caprichio #43 is: "Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels."

by Kelly Bulkeley Ph.D.

I recently attended a public lecture by a famous neuroscientist, with several hundred other people in the audience. The topic of his talk was the unconscious brain processes that shape our conscious mental lives. The lecture was a good introduction to mainstream neuroscience, and the audience clearly enjoyed it.

At the end of his prepared remarks, the neuroscientist took written questions from the audience. The second question he was asked (which the moderator said came from several people) had to do with dreaming. What does science know about dreams?

From where I sat, the neuroscientist looked distinctly uncomfortable trying to answer this question. He started by saying, "Dream content is not well understood."

He brought up hypnosis and meditation as other types of anomalous brain functioning that may have something to do with creativity, but he quickly dismissed them as "parlor tricks" unworthy of serious investigation.

Returning to the question of dreams, he said they were probably just a "mish-mash" of the brain's "machine code" that we can't and shouldn't try to understand. This brought him back to a point he'd made earlier, namely discouraging people from spending too much time delving into their own unconscious minds.

Consciousness, he said, is like a CEO who shouldn't try to micromanage all the lower-level activities of his company because that would be disruptive and distract him from his proper focus on the big picture.

The moderator asked him if he paid attention to his own dreams, and the neuroscientist seemed relieved at finally being able to admit the truth: "You know, I can't stand dreaming. It makes no sense to me." The moderator said something to the effect of, so you're an expert on the unconscious who can't stand his dreams? The neuroscientist shrugged. There was a bit of nervous laughter from the audience, and the moderator went on to the next question.

I'm not using the neuroscientist's name because the problem I want to discuss isn't just about him, but about an unfortunate combination of bias and ignorance I suspect is more widespread than it should be in the neuroscience community.

The problem starts with the assertion, "Dream content is not well understood." That's simply wrong. Several decades of scientific research on dreaming has identified a number of basic patterns in dream content, giving us a reasonably clear view of the meaningful features of dreaming experience.

Many questions still remain and more research needs to be done, but it's misleading at best and intellectually lazy at worst to suggest there is no good scientific evidence about the nature of dream content.

What, then, does science actually know about dreams?

1. Most dreams turn out to be rather mundane. Contrary to the common misconception that dreams are nothing but a "mish-mash" of random nonsense and bizarre fantasy, research shows that dreams usually include fairly realistic portrayals of familiar people, places, and activities. (David Foulkes was one of the first researchers to make this point.)

2. Many aspects of dream content are accurate, honest reflections of people's emotional concerns in
waking life. Whatever you care most about in waking life, it's likely to appear with special frequency in the content of your dreams. (See, for example, G. William Domhoff's work on the "continuity hypothesis.")

3. The graphic, repetitive nightmares suffered by victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often change, in the course of healing, to more ordinary nightmares with a more diffuse range of imagery.

As Deirdre Barrett says in her 1996 edited book Trauma and Dreams: "[A]s time passes, and especially for those whose PTSD is gradually improving, the dream content begins to make the trauma more symbolic and to interweave it with concerns from the dreamer's daily life." (p. 3)

These are three straightforward findings of contemporary dream research. They are not esoteric or obscure. They have been produced by well-trained psychologists, published in reputable books and journals, and cited frequently by other scholars. Combined with other solid scientific findings (see the additional references below), they suggest that dreaming is creatively structured by a network of emotional and cognitive processes that also operate in waking consciousness and have meaningful connections to our health and development.

It's okay if neuroscientists aren't interested in their own personal dreams. But it's not okay to shift from "I don't understand my dreams" to "Dream content is not well understood." The shift to a passive voice makes this claim sound like a fact-based conclusion of mainstream science, whereas it really indicates a failure to engage with the abundant evidence generated by more than half a century of empirical dream research.

Note: All quotes unless otherwise indicated come from my hand-written notes during the lecture.

Other good sources on the science of dreams include works by Patrick McNamara and Deirdre Barrett, Edward Pace-Schott et al., Ernest Hartmann, Milton Kramer, Rosalind Cartwright, and the journal Dreaming.

Excerpts From: Genetic Analysis of Sleep

Genetic Analysis of Sleep

by Amanda Crocker and Amita Sehgal, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia

Almost 20 years ago, the gene underlying fatal familial insomnia was discovered, and first suggested the concept that a single gene can regulate sleep. In the two decades since, there have been many advances in the field of behavioral genetics, but it is only in the past 10 years that the genetic analysis of sleep has emerged as an important discipline.

Major findings include the discovery of a single gene underlying the sleep disorder narcolepsy, and identification of loci that make quantitative contributions to sleep characteristics. The sleep field has also expanded its focus from mammalian model organisms to Drosophila, zebrafish, and worms, which is allowing the application of novel genetic approaches.

Researchers have undertaken large-scale screens to identify new genes that regulate sleep, and are also probing questions of sleep circuitry and sleep function on a molecular level. As genetic tools continue to be refined in each model organism, the genes that support a specific function in sleep will become more apparent. Thus, while our understanding of sleep still remains rudimentary, rapid progress is expected from these recently initiated studies.

The recognition that sleep may be regulated by conserved genetic mechanisms has not yet led to a unified understanding of it. A closely related process—the generation of circadian rhythms—is now explained on the basis of a universal model, largely because of mechanistic studies done in phylogentically very diverse organisms.

If there is a specific neurotransmitter for sleep, it is still hypothetical. Thus, sleep does not appear to be controlled by a singe locus or dedicated genes. It is better understood as a broad system-wide phenomenon.

Hypotheses for sleep include somatic theories (healing of the body and other endocrine functions), cellular metabolic theories (removal of reactive oxidative species and energy replenishment), brain-specific functions such as synaptic plasticity (in adults, this would underlie memory consolidation), or synaptic downscaling.

Genetics provides a new way to address the regulation and function of sleep. While for the past 20 years genetics has been used primarily to verify lesion and pharmacological studies through targeted gene approaches, it can now be used to probe more intricate questions in sleep.

Identification of genes required for sleep homeostasis

The big question remains: Why do we sleep? There is now the growing sense that the function of sleep may fall out of its molecular analysis. Since few sleep-regulating molecules are known, studies are under way to identify novel genes required for sleep. These studies include forward genetic screens as well as genetic manipulation of candidate genes, by focusing on changes in sleep amount as a readout of sleep homeostasis.

Sleep and metabolism
There have long been theories that sleep is important for metabolism (Benington and Heller 1995). This is supported by the potential role for adenosine, and by reports showing associations between glycogen levels and sleep. In addition, there appears to be anatomic overlap in the regulation of sleep and metabolism.

More recently, genes important for dealing with cellular stress have been implicated in sleep regulation. Through both differential expression profiles and targeted gene approaches, the gene Bip is implicated as a sleep-promoting factor. Bip is important for the unfolded protein response in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and is up-regulated following periods of sleep deprivation in mice (Cirelli et al. 2005b). In addition, flies with altered Bip levels show changes in their homeostatic response to sleep deprivation.

Genes important for synaptic modulation

One of the current hypotheses for why we sleep is that it allows for, or even promotes, synaptic downscaling (Tononi and Cirelli 2006). This hypothesis is based on the presumption that, during wakefulness, the interaction of animals with their environment leads to the strengthening of some synapses, while others remain the same. It postulates that synaptic downscaling during sleep promotes efficiency in terms of energy and space, while maintaining the relative ratios of the strength of synapses. This hypothesis has been supported in recent years by differential expression studies of genes whose expression changes with sleep/wake state.

Genes involved in learning and memory

In both mice and flies, many genes important for learning and memory have been targeted for sleep analysis. These include, but are not limited to, CREB, protein kinase A (PKA), cAMP, ERK, cGMP, and some of the ion channels.

Conclusion

Genetics can tell us a lot about what sleep does for organisms, but the potential of this approach has only just started to be recognized in the sleep field. With the generation of conditional and anatomically restricted knockouts (or knock-ins) in mice, we are on the verge of answering many questions.

These include determining the roles of adenosine and BDNF in sleep and memory. In flies, anatomically and/or temporally restricted expression of sleep-regulating transgenes has already been performed.

These approaches have provided great insight into the role of specific signaling pathways in sleep. In the future, this technology will be used to rescue sleep mutants in a region-specific manner, although some of these mutations, such as in ion channels, may turn out to have global effects that cannot be rescued in specific areas.

However, the real power of the fly, worm, and fish models lies in their amenability to unbiased genetic screens. With a process like sleep, about which little is known, we suggest that the best approach is one that is not associated with any preconceived assumptions,

At this point, there is no evidence that a single gene, or subset of genes, acting in a specific subset of neurons is responsible for sleep.

It is more likely that sleep is a network phenomenon. It is also likely that there will be many hypotheses for why we sleep and strong evidence for each, since many of the neurotransmitters and signaling pathways that keep us awake serve other functions.

For instance, orexin is apparently involved in both feeding behavior and maintaining wakefulness. Sleep deprivation results in several impaired processes, some of which may turn out to reflect consequences of increased wakefulness rather than indicating an actual function of sleep.

With the advancement of new genetic tools, it is likely that we will soon see experiments directly testing some of these hypotheses, such as cellular metabolic function and synaptic scaling.

From the data discussed in this review, it is likely that sleep is important for overall homeostatic regulation of the entire organism, possibly down to within-the-cell homeostasis.

It is clear that sleep is a very basic process, and that studying it in model organisms will provide significant insight into why we sleep. In general, advances in genetics in all model organisms will provide a wealth of knowledge for the sleep field in the coming years.

For more detail, read the entire article, as it originally appeared, at:

http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/24/12/1220.full

Bedroom Eyes

Is there anything more relaxing than looking at a basset hound in sleep-mode?

I really don't think so.

Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post, Blog: Sing Me A Lullaby



Art by the great Winsor McCay.



The joy of a good night's sleep just can't be overstated. And somewhere around my 50th birthday, I lost the ability to get one. I went from being someone who could shut her eyes and not open them for eight hours to a person who now does a victory lap around the bed if I manage four hours of sleep in a single stretch. Worse, you can always tell how much sleep I got the night before by how grouchy I am and how much I forget the next day. Today, I drove past my freeway exit.

The unfortunate trademark of our middle years is that while we can fall asleep with little effort, we don't stay asleep. I'm guessing that more than a few of you are nodding your heads in agreement right now -- that, or nodding off.

But some heartening news just hit: Those senior moments -- where we forget whether or not we fed the dog or can't remember what day of the week it is -- may not be the early stages of Alzheimer's or dementia. They may simply just be what happens to us from lack of shut-eye. The study out of UC Berkeley found what any one of us could have told them: If you aren't sleeping well, you are forgetting more.

Not feeling sharp during the day is bad enough. But thinking that that memory loss could be something bigger frightens the bejesus out of me. So yes, I'm embracing these findings like Linus does his blanket.

But it all comes back to the original problem: Not sleeping well. What makes this problem so extraordinary is that short of taking addictive sleeping aides, nobody has come up with a solution for it. Melatonin? Yeah right. Over-the-counter sleeping aids tend to be a waste of my money. Exercise, no alcohol, avoid spicy foods and X, Y and Z? We've all heard the same advice a million times and guess what? Some things work a little; some things work for awhile; some things work for some people and nothing works the way it should except the heavy-duty stuff that kind of puts you into a temporary coma. The first time I took an Ambien, I remember thinking it should be administered by an anesthesiologist who monitored your vitals while you slept.

The idea of taking a pill every night to stay asleep isn't a lifestyle I particularly want to choose for myself. I believe that our bodies have the ability to self-heal if we just let them. But I've been waiting patiently for that to happen and I'm still staring at the ceiling from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. most nights. I swear the last calming herbal sleep-aid remedy I tried caused me stay awake longer.

There's one thing I know for sure: Whoever builds a better sleep aid is going to clean up. It will not be a white-noise machine, room-darkening shades, or earplugs to drown out spousal snoring. It will be a miracle, nothing less, and it will be embraced by a generation.

In the meantime, as I walk into the kitchen forgetting why I'm there or call my husband by my son's name, I find some small comfort knowing it's only because I'm tired.

On the Web: Six Signs You May Need More Sleep

1. You're Ravenous -- If you find yourself hungry all day (and not because you skipped breakfast or have recently amped up your gym routine) it might be because you've been skimping on sleep.

Research presented at the 2010 meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior linked little shuteye with higher levels of the hormone ghrelin, the same one that triggers hunger, HuffPost reported.

This uptick in the hunger hormone seems to lead to not only increased snacking, but also a hankering for high-carb, high-calorie foods, according to a 2004 study, which may help explain why people who don't get enough sleep are at a greater risk of obesity.

2. You're Weepy --- Ever find yourself tearing up over an embarrassing TV commercial?

While women might be quick to blame PMS, it could be a lack of sleep sending your emotions into overdrive. A 2007 study found that sleep-deprived brains were 60 percent more reactive to negative and disturbing images, USA Today reported.

"It's almost as though, without sleep, the brain had reverted back to more primitive patterns of activity, in that it was unable to put emotional experiences into context and produce controlled, appropriate responses," Matthew Walker, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

3. You're Forgetful or Unfocused -- You might be tempted to blame your trouble focusing on your age or stress or your overflowing email inbox, but a lack of sleep could be the true culprit.

Too few hours in dreamland has been linked to a whole host of cognitive problems, like difficulty focusing and paying attention, confusion, lower alertness and concentration, forgetfulness and trouble learning, WebMD reports.

So next time you find yourself forgetting where you put your keys, consider how much sleep you got last night.

4. You Can't Shake That Cold -- If you keep coming down with the sniffles -- or can't seem to kick that never-ending case -- you might want to assess your sleep schedule. A 2009 study found that people who sleep fewer than seven hours each night have almost three times the risk of catching a cold than people who slept for at least eight hours, the LA Times reported.

5. You're Clumsier Than Usual -- First you knock the alarm clock off the dresser, then you spill the milk as you're pouring your cereal, then you stub your toe on the way out the door -- you've become a klutz overnight.

Researchers don't know exactly why, but sleepy people seem to "have slower and less precise motor skills," Clete Kushida, M.D., Ph.D., director of Stanford University Center for Human Sleep Research told Prevention. Reflexes are dulled, balance and depth perception can be a little wonky and since you may also have trouble focusing, reaction time can be slowed, meaning you can't quite catch the egg carton before it hits the floor.

6. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling -- If you or your partner just can't get in the mood, and stress or an underlying health problem isn't to blame, you might want to spend some extra time between the sheets -- sleeping.

Both men and women who don't get their 40 winks experience a decreased sex drive and less interest in doing the deed, WebMD reports. A lack of sleep can also elevate levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, according to Everyday Health, which doesn't help in the bedroom either.

Does making your room completely dark help one to sleep better?

From the Zeology blog:

http://blog.myzeo.com/

Q: I read Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival and one of things the author recommend is making your bedroom completely dark. Has anyone tried this? Do you sleep better? Does it work?

A: There’s no doubt about the importance of a dark environment for sleeping.  When we expose our bodies to lower light conditions in the evenings, sleep comes more easily due to melatonin release after the sun goes down.

There’s no doubt about the importance of a dark environment for sleeping. In the pre-electric past, people naturally got sleepy and went to bed after the sun went down.

When we have a regularly scheduled sleep pattern mixed with lower light conditions in the evenings, sleep comes more easily due to melatonin release after the sun goes down, as part of our body’s circadian rhythms.

In order to keep this process on track, it’s best to limit exposure to bright light from computer monitors, TVs, and smartphones at night, as this can delay the release of melatonin leading to staying up later.

Limiting light exposure in the morning can also help you get more sleep, as the lack of light can delay the body’s natural call to “wake up”, allowing you to get more deeper, restful sleep. 

Using an eyemask, or turning your bed away from the window can help limit this exposure.

For those who work evening and night shifts, it’s best to sleep in rooms with heavy curtains that block all light, as well as wear blue-blocking sunglasses on the morning drive home, in order to prevent the stimulation of the waking circadian rhythm.

Related Content:

• How does light impact our circadian rhythm?
• How can I increase my time in Deep Sleep?
• Jetlag: Is it better to take a 30-minute power nap or just push through and go to bed early?
• What can one do to promote good sleep?

Sweet Dreams

Playing With Light

I've decided to experiment with colored lenses to see if they affect my mood or ability to sleep.  So off I went to Amazon and eBay. and ordered up some cheap sunglasses.

Since I stare at the computer monitor all day, the first thing I ordered from Amazon was:

Sheer Vision Computer Glasses with Peach/Light Beige Polycarbonate Sheer Glare Anti Reflective Lenses, Clip on Flip up, Rectangle, A (54-56mm) B 47mm) -- cost $18.00

Product Description

Are you tired of letting the glare of your computer bother you all the time and then wondering why your vision is getting worse and worse? The consistent glare from a computer monitor isn't exactly the healthiest thing for your eyes. Visionary Supplies would like to introduce Sheer Vision.

Sheer Vision is a line of superior quality, anti-glare filter glasses for the computer eyewear market. Our company devoted the necessary time and resources to developing an Anti-Glare Computer Eyewear product that not only does the job, but is the most comfortable and stylish to wear. Here's how we did it...Sheer Vision is an enhanced polycarbonate plastic lens material with a unique coating applied to both the front and back surfaces. The coating creates a unique physical characteristic on the lens that resembles an oily residue or a drop of water in a puddle. This unique coating eliminates the glare from any computer monitor while the enhanced polycarbonate material blocks the harmful UV light rays coming from the screen.

These UV lights are normally very dangerous to the retina. The combination of these two materials on a single lens allows the user to view the computer monitor with a softness and a contrast between colors unlike ever before. Not only do Sheer Vision products reduce glare and UV light intake, but our state of the art lenses also reduce headaches that usually are caused by prolonged, unprotected exposure to the persistent onslaught of harmful rays from all computer monitors. All of our glasses come standard in a polycarbonate double-sided anti-reflective coating, scratch coating and UV protection.

..... And they didn't even mention those nasty office fluorescent lights.

Next, I read that blue light is a key to setting the circadian rhythm for sleep and also enhances a positive mood, so I bought these cool cat blue lenses to wear in the morning hours (not while using the computer) on eBay.

New Attitude Blue Lenses Sunglasses Motorcycle Black Spring Assisted Temples - cost $10.00

Then for night, in order to enhance the low-light "sunset" experience as the prelude to sleep, I plan to slip on orange lenses, which filter out the invigorating blue light from artificial nighttime lights such as electric lightbulbs and TV (a somewhat contradictory notion to absorbing that same blue light earlier in the day -- so we'll see what's what).


KD Original Orange Lenses Sunglasses Motorcycle With Storage Pouch 2128 -- cost: another $10.00

Net cost for everything -- $38.00. If anything seems to actually work, after a trial period, I may invest in high-dollar prescription ground versions of the colored lenses.

ZZ Top "Cheap Sunglasses"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vR-9NQAPIA

In the News: Elderly Sleep Habits Are Not Too Different From Younger Adults, Study Suggests



First we study waffles --- then we sleep...zzzzzzzz.......



The sleep studies below cite a percentage of "just 25%"  or "less than half" of seniors getting less than 7.5 hours of sleep a night -- that still seems like a problematically large percentage to this sometimes-sleep-disordered person. These "good news" reports and their interpretations of medical studies really have to be read carefully as far as their headline/conclusions are concerned....waffle...waffle....



LiveScience posted on Huffington Post: 11/26/20

A new study is debunking the perception that elderly people have wildly different sleep habits than their younger counterparts.

University of Pittsburgh researchers conducted a survey of 1,116 people ages 65 and older who are retired, and found that more than half of them get around 7.5 hours of sleep per night, at least, and sleep generally between 11 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. Adults are generally recommended to get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night.

"Our findings suggest that in matters regarding sleep and sleepiness, as in many other aspects of life, most seniors today are doing better than is generally thought," study researcher Timothy H. Monk, Ph.D., D.Sc., a professor of psychiatry at UPMC's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, said in a statement. "The stereotype of most seniors going to bed at 8 p.m., sleeping very lightly and being unduly sleepy during the day may be quite inaccurate, suggesting that 60 really is the new 40."

The study, published in the journal Healthy Aging and Clinical Care in the Elderly, showed that just 25 percent of seniors surveyed reported sleeping fewer than 6.7 hours each night.

The researchers also found that a bigger predictor of sleep quality was a person's health, versus a person's age. And daytime sleepiness in the elderly may be more a result of things like medication side effects, not getting a good night's rest, or having some sort of illness, versus age.

In 2008, a study in the journal Current Biology showed that elderly people may simply need less sleep than younger people -- about an hour-and-a-half less, to be exact, LiveScience reported. The findings have implications for perceptions of insomnia among the elderly, study researcher Elizabeth Klerman, of Brigham and Women's Hospital, told LiveScience:

"There are definitely older people with insomnia," Klerman told LiveScience. "However there may also be some older people who 'create' insomnia if they believe that they 'need' eight to nine hours of sleep and therefore spend more time in bed (lying awake) than needed to achieve the amount of sleep 'needed.'"

While the new study showed that elderly people generally get the same amounts of sleep and sleep around the same times as younger people, a previous study from Mayo Clinic researchers showed that many may also experience sleep disorders.

That study, presented in 2009 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, showed that 59 percent of 70-to-89-year-olds included in the study experienced a sleep disorder (not including insomnia).

Sleep Disturbance Linked to Aging Eye Lens

Bring on the Blues -- Light Therapy! I ordered one of these devices on Amazon to give it a shot!

 

 

Philips goLITE BLU Light Therapy Device

 

 

 

 

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: September 06, 2011

 

Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner

Action Points

• Explain that sleep disturbance correlated significantly with reduced blue light transmission to the retina resulting from aging and yellowing of the lens.
• Point out that the odds of sleep disturbance also increased significantly with the extent of autofluorescence, a measure of lens transmission and yellowing.

Sleep disturbance correlated significantly with reduced blue light transmission to the retina resulting from aging and yellowing of the lens, Danish investigators reported.

Every one% increase in blue light lens transmission reduced the odds of sleep disturbance by five%. The association was similar across age groups and remained significant after controlling for a variety of potential confounders, as reported in the September issue of Sleep.

"To translate the odds ratios into a clinical example, a 50-year-old, nonsmoking, nondiabetic female with a low risk of ischemic heart disease who was in the 97.5% upper normal range of blue light lens transmission ... had a risk of sleep disturbances of 16.4%," Line Kessel, MD, PhD, of Glostrup Hospital and the University of Copenhagen, and co-authors wrote.

"[In contrast] a similar ... 50-year-old female who was in the 2.5% lower normal range of blue light lens transmission ... had a risk of having sleep disturbances of 37.9%."

The odds of sleep disturbance also increased significantly with the extent of autofluorescence, a measure of lens transmission and yellowing.

Regulation of sleep patterns and circadian rhythms occurs through the retinohypothalamic tract in response to stimulation of retinal ganglions, primarily by blue light.

With aging, the lens acquires a yellowish discoloration from accumulation of chromophores that preferentially absorb in the short wavelength region of the light spectrum. The authors hypothesized that lens yellowing might act as a filter for blue light in older people, who are more prone to sleep disturbance.

"Theoretically, the aging process of the lens of the eye may be an important causative factor in sleep disorders," the authors wrote.

To examine the relationship between lens aging and sleep disturbance, investigators recruited participants from an ongoing epidemiologic study (Inter99 Eye Study) of associations between ophthalmic parameters and health.

The study of lens aging and sleep disturbance involved 970 people, ages 30 to 60. The study population consisted of 142 participants with a high risk of ischemic heart disease, 107 with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, 11 participants with a history of diabetes, 147 participants with impaired glucose tolerance, and a miscellaneous group of 61 participants. The control group had 502 participants.

Investigators assessed sleep disturbance by means of questionnaires and prescriptions for sleeping medications. Lens aging was determined by autofluorometry. Sleep disturbance was defined as answering "yes" to "having trouble sleeping and/or purchasing a sleep medication in the past year."

Overall, the prevalence of sleep disturbance was 24.4%. and more than 80% of participants with sleep disturbances said the problem occurred frequently and required treatment with sleep medication. The prevalence ranged from a high of 32.5% of participants, ages 55 to 60, to a low of 15.7% in participants ages 30 to 35 (P=0.0002).

Sleep disturbance affected women more often than men (32.2% versus 18.4%, P<0.0001). It also was more common in participants with diabetes (30.7% versus 22.5% for normoglycemic individuals, P=0.016) and smokers (28.6% versus 21.0% of nonsmokers, P=0.007).

The inverse association between sleep disturbance and blue light lens transmission was represented by an odds ratio (OR) of 0.95 per 1% increase in lens transmission (95% CI 0.93 to 0.97, P<0.0001).

Adjustment for age, sex, diabetes, smoking, and risk of ischemic heart disease resulted in an OR of 0.97 (95% CI 0.95 to 0.99, P=0.016).

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that decreased blue light transmission reduces stimulation of retinal ganglions containing melanopsin, which has a key role in photoentrainment of circadian rhythms.

"Melanopsin is stimulated by predominantly blue light with a maximum absorption around 480 nm in humans, the very part of the visible spectrum that is mostly affected by the aging process of the human lens," the authors wrote.

"The results of the present study indicate that the spectral characteristics of the light reaching the retina, and specifically the total amount of blue light that penetrates the refractive media of the eye, may have a profound impact on sleep quality, most likely mediated via reduced ocular photic regulation of melatonin secretion," they added.

"Our results support that choosing the right indoor lighting conditions may have a beneficial effect on sleep and that blue light therapy might be used to modulate circadian sleep disorders," they concluded.

The study had some limitations including the risk that some patients were misclassified because sleeping medication may be used for other conditions, such as benzodiazepines for anxiety.

The study received no industry support, and the authors had no relevant disclosures.

Primary source: Sleep
Source reference:
Kessel L, et al "Sleep disturbances are related to decreased transmission of blue light to the retina caused by lens yellowing" Sleep 2011; 34: 1215-1219.

Give Yourself a $60,000 "Nap Raise"

In Train Your Brain to Get Happy, the chapter on “Sleep” first reminds the reader why sleep is important, including the same reasons we’ve all heard about -- reducing stress, slowing the aging process, and losing weight, but also adding this powerful new one:

“An extra hour of sleep per day — the equivalent of a nice, long nap — will give you a ‘happiness boost’ comparable to a $60,000 annual raise…” (p. 154). 

The chapter also explains how the different stages of sleep work to restore and rest the brain as well as the benefits of dreaming. 

Amanda Gardner: Power Naps May Boost Right-Brain Activity

Posted: 10/19/2012 by Amanda Gardner

We’ve all been there: After struggling over a problem for hours, we rest our eyes for a few minutes and suddenly the answer is lying before us, clear as day.

This common phenomenon has contributed to the idea of the so-called power nap, a quick snatch of rest that stops short of deep sleep yet somehow manages to refresh and stimulate.

Although there is much about the power nap that remains a mystery, researchers have begun to uncover the brain processes behind the little miracles it produces.

The latest research, presented today at an annual meeting of neuroscientists, may help explain the mental spark that sometimes occurs during a nap. Researchers monitoring the brain activity of 15 at-rest individuals found that the right side of their brain -- the hemisphere most associated with creativity -- chattered busily to itself as well as to the left hemisphere, which remained relatively quiet.

“The right side of the brain was better integrated,” says study author Andrei Medvedev, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging, in Washington, D.C.

Medvedev had expected the left side of the brain to be better integrated, since that hemisphere tends to be dominant in right-handed people (and vice versa in left-handed people). All but two of the study participants -- and fully 95 percent of the general population -- are right-handed.

The division of labor between the right and left sides of the brain isn’t as clear-cut as once thought. Generally, though, the right hemisphere is associated with creative tasks, such as visualization and big-picture thinking, while the left is more analytic, specializing in numbers and language processing.

It’s not yet clear how, or if, the new study results fit into this framework. But Medvedev speculates that the right brain may be performing important “housecleaning” tasks during a nap. The most important of these is probably the consolidation of memories, although other tasks are probably involved as well, he says.

This hypothesis jibes with the current understanding of the essential role that sleep plays in memory formation, says Suresh Kotagal, M.D., a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

“We are exposed to certain pieces of information, but if we get to sleep on it, the sleep seems to facilitate the transfer of information from the short-term memory bank into the more permanent memory bank,” says Kotagal, who was not involved in the study.

Jonathan Friedman, M.D., director of the Texas Brain and Spine Institute, in Bryan, says the new findings come at a time of growing interest in the neuroscience of sleep.

“Emerging scientific evidence suggests that naps -- even very short ones -- significantly enhance cognitive function,” Friedman says. “Increasing understanding of how sleep improves brain function may someday allow us to harness this effect, and the current study may open one of many doors in this regard.”

Medvedev and his colleagues used a type of brain imaging known as near-infrared spectroscopy, which involves placing optical fibers similar to electrodes symmetrically around a person’s scalp. These “optodes” send infrared light through the brain and measure how much light returns.

The intensity of light bouncing back provides an estimate of the blood flow in different regions of the brain. Blood flow, in turn, is an indicator of how active those regions are.
The study results, which Medvedev presented at the Neuroscience 2012 meeting in New Orleans, should be considered preliminary. They haven’t been peer-reviewed by other experts in the field, and they’ll need to be replicated in other studies before firm conclusions can be drawn.

But they do shine a light -- infrared light, in this case -- on how the two sides of our brain interact when we’re at rest. “This may change our perspective of the brain,” Medvedev says. “We may just conclude that the sub-dominant part of the brain may also be important.”

Power Naps May Boost Right-Brain Activity was originally published on Health.com

David K. Randall: Rethinking Sleep

Vincent van Gogh , The Siesta (after Millet), December 1889-January 1890, oil on canvas, H. 73; W. 91 cm, Musée d'Orsay.

Sometime in the dark stretch of the night it happens. Perhaps it’s the chime of an incoming text message. Or your iPhone screen lights up to alert you to a new e-mail. Or you find yourself staring at the ceiling, replaying the day in your head. Next thing you know, you’re out of bed and engaged with the world, once again ignoring the often quoted fact that eight straight hours of sleep is essential.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Thanks in part to technology and its constant pinging and chiming, roughly 41 million people in the United States — nearly a third of all working adults — get six hours or fewer of sleep a night, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And sleep deprivation is an affliction that crosses economic lines. About 42 percent of workers in the mining industry are sleep-deprived, while about 27 percent of financial or insurance industry workers share the same complaint.

Typically, mention of our ever increasing sleeplessness is followed by calls for earlier bedtimes and a longer night’s sleep. But this directive may be part of the problem. Rather than helping us to get more rest, the tyranny of the eight-hour block reinforces a narrow conception of sleep and how we should approach it. Some of the time we spend tossing and turning may even result from misconceptions about sleep and our bodily needs: in fact neither our bodies nor our brains are built for the roughly one-third of our lives that we spend in bed.

The idea that we should sleep in eight-hour chunks is relatively recent. The world’s population sleeps in various and surprising ways. Millions of Chinese workers continue to put their heads on their desks for a nap of an hour or so after lunch, for example, and daytime napping is common from India to Spain.

One of the first signs that the emphasis on a straight eight-hour sleep had outlived its usefulness arose in the early 1990s, thanks to a history professor at Virginia Tech named A. Roger Ekirch, who spent hours investigating the history of the night and began to notice strange references to sleep. A character in the “Canterbury Tales,” for instance, decides to go back to bed after her “firste sleep.” A doctor in England wrote that the time between the “first sleep” and the “second sleep” was the best time for study and reflection. And one 16th-century French physician concluded that laborers were able to conceive more children because they waited until after their “first sleep” to make love. Professor Ekirch soon learned that he wasn’t the only one who was on to the historical existence of alternate sleep cycles. In a fluke of history, Thomas A. Wehr, a psychiatrist then working at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., was conducting an experiment in which subjects were deprived of artificial light. Without the illumination and distraction from light bulbs, televisions or computers, the subjects slept through the night, at least at first. But, after a while, Dr. Wehr noticed that subjects began to wake up a little after midnight, lie awake for a couple of hours, and then drift back to sleep again, in the same pattern of segmented sleep that Professor Ekirch saw referenced in historical records and early works of literature.

It seemed that, given a chance to be free of modern life, the body would naturally settle into a split sleep schedule. Subjects grew to like experiencing nighttime in a new way. Once they broke their conception of what form sleep should come in, they looked forward to the time in the middle of the night as a chance for deep thinking of all kinds, whether in the form of self-reflection, getting a jump on the next day or amorous activity. Most of us, however, do not treat middle-of-the-night awakenings as a sign of a normal, functioning brain.

Doctors who peddle sleep aid products and call for more sleep may unintentionally reinforce the idea that there is something wrong or off-kilter about interrupted sleep cycles. Sleep anxiety is a common result: we know we should be getting a good night’s rest but imagine we are doing something wrong if we awaken in the middle of the night. Related worries turn many of us into insomniacs and incite many to reach for sleeping pills or sleep aids, which reinforces a cycle that the Harvard psychologist Daniel M. Wegner has called “the ironic processes of mental control.”

As we lie in our beds thinking about the sleep we’re not getting, we diminish the chances of enjoying a peaceful night’s rest.

This, despite the fact that a number of recent studies suggest that any deep sleep — whether in an eight-hour block or a 30-minute nap — primes our brains to function at a higher level, letting us come up with better ideas, find solutions to puzzles more quickly, identify patterns faster and recall information more accurately. In a NASA-financed study, for example, a team of researchers led by David F. Dinges, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, found that letting subjects nap for as little as 24 minutes improved their cognitive performance.

In another study conducted by Simon Durrant, a professor at the University of Lincoln, in England, the amount of time a subject spent in deep sleep during a nap predicted his or her later performance at recalling a short burst of melodic tones. And researchers at the City University of New York found that short naps helped subjects identify more literal and figurative connections between objects than those who simply stayed awake.

Robert Stickgold, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, proposes that sleep — including short naps that include deep sleep — offers our brains the chance to decide what new information to keep and what to toss. That could be one reason our dreams are laden with strange plots and characters, a result of the brain’s trying to find connections between what it’s recently learned and what is stored in our long-term memory. Rapid eye movement sleep — so named because researchers who discovered this sleep stage were astonished to see the fluttering eyelids of sleeping subjects — is the only phase of sleep during which the brain is as active as it is when we are fully conscious, and seems to offer our brains the best chance to come up with new ideas and hone recently acquired skills. When we awaken, our minds are often better able to make connections that were hidden in the jumble of information.
Gradual acceptance of the notion that sequential sleep hours are not essential for high-level job performance has led to increased workplace tolerance for napping and other alternate daily schedules.

Employees at Google, for instance, are offered the chance to nap at work because the company believes it may increase productivity. Thomas Balkin, the head of the department of behavioral biology at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, imagines a near future in which military commanders can know how much total sleep an individual soldier has had over a 24-hour time frame thanks to wristwatch-size sleep monitors. After consulting computer models that predict how decision-making abilities decline with fatigue, a soldier could then be ordered to take a nap to prepare for an approaching mission. The cognitive benefit of a nap could last anywhere from one to three hours, depending on what stage of sleep a person reaches before awakening.

Most of us are not fortunate enough to work in office environments that permit, much less smile upon, on-the-job napping. But there are increasing suggestions that greater tolerance for altered sleep schedules might be in our collective interest. Researchers have observed, for example, that long-haul pilots who sleep during flights perform better when maneuvering aircraft through the critical stages of descent and landing.

Several Major League Baseball teams have adapted to the demands of a long season by changing their sleep patterns. Fernando Montes, the former strength and conditioning coach for the Texas Rangers, counseled his players to fall asleep with the curtains in their hotel rooms open so that they would naturally wake up at sunrise no matter what time zone they were in — even if it meant cutting into an eight-hour sleeping block. Once they arrived at the ballpark, Montes would set up a quiet area where they could sleep before the game. Players said that, thanks to this schedule, they felt great both physically and mentally over the long haul.

Strategic napping in the Rangers style could benefit us all. No one argues that sleep is not essential. But freeing ourselves from needlessly rigid and quite possibly outdated ideas about what constitutes a good night’s sleep might help put many of us to rest, in a healthy and productive, if not eight-hour long, block.

David K. Randall is a senior reporter at Reuters and the author of “Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep.”