Brain gets  rid of toxins as we sleep=====LONDON: It's a wake-up call for an estimated 150 million people who don't get enough sleep. Scientists say sleep is the mechanism through which the body flushes waste from the human brain.

The brain's method of waste removal — the glymphatic system — is highly active during sleep, clearing away toxins responsible for Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to a study.

Researchers say the brain's cells reduce in size during sleep, allowing waste to be removed more effectively. "This study shows that the brain has different functional states when asleep and when awake," said Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Centre. "In fact, the restorative nature of sleep appears to be the result of the active clearance of the by-products that accumulate during wakefulness."

By 2030, the number of adults suffering from sleeplessness is projected to be around 1.57 million, corresponding to over 260 million experiencing sleep problems. Sleep disorders at present affect 5-10 % of Indians.

The brain's process of clearing waste had long eluded scientists for it couldn't be observed in the living brain till the advent of new imaging technologies like two photon microscopy

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s.s.venkateshwar

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