MIT Neuroscience Says This Is What Happens to Your Brain Without Enough Sleep

On my last day at work a few years back, they gave me a going-away party, and it turned into something more like a roast. One of the top leaders told a story I’d sort of hoped he’d forgotten. 

The context was when my wife and I were brand new parents and we were struggling through extreme sleep deprivation. After one especially rough night, I came into work for a key meeting.

Our boss told the story in a way that had everyone laughing:

• How I called our CEO by the wrong name three times.
• How I botched simple math and insisted I’d gotten it right.
• How I nearly fell asleep at the conference table.

The punchline: “Then Murphy said, ‘Sorry. I slept only 45 minutes last night and it turns out that’s not enough.’ And then he stood up and walked out the door.”

Why you can’t pay attention

Maybe you’ve been there. Someone’s talking directly to you, maybe even asking you a question, and your mind just disappears.

Now, a new neuroscience study from MIT suggests a fascinating explanation. In short, when your attention vanishes after a sleepless night,your brain is literally flushing itself clean.

Writing in the journal Nature Neuroscience, MIT researchers found that during those frustrating moments when you can’t pay attention, waves of cerebrospinal fluid are washing through your brain—the exact same cleansing process that normally happens while you’re sound asleep.

Your brain tries to catch up—at a cost

The MIT team, led by Laura Lewis, an associate professor with a PhD in neuroscience, recruited 26 volunteers who were each tested twice: once after a full night of sleep, and once after staying up all night in the lab under constant supervision.

During both sessions, participants performed simple attention tasks while researchers monitored their brain activity, heart rate, breathing, pupil size, and, crucially, the flow of cerebro-spinal fluid in their brains.

The sleep-deprived participants performed significantly worse, missing more cues and responding more slowly. But the striking finding was what happened during those attention lapses.

At the exact moment when focus disappeared, cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) would surge out of the brain. Then, when attention returned, the fluid would flow back in.

“If you don’t sleep, the CSF waves start to intrude into wakefulness where normally you wouldn’t see them,” Lewis said in a statement. “However, they come with an attentional tradeoff, where attention fails during the moments that you have this wave of fluid flow.”

A body-wide event

Each attention lapse was also accompanied by a whole cascade of bodily changes:

• Pupils constricted (starting about 12 seconds before the fluid wave)
• Heart rate dropped
• Breathing slowed
• Brain wave patterns shifted

Then, after the lapse, everything reversed: pupils dilated, heart rate increased, and breathing sped back up.

“It suggests that there’s a tight coordination of these systems, where when your attention fails, you might feel it perceptually and psychologically, but it’s also reflecting an event that’s happening throughout the brain and body,” Lewis explained.

Sleep’s housekeeping can’t wait

The overall theory:

• Your brain accumulates waste products throughout the day that need to be cleared out.
• Normally, this happens during sleep, when those rhythmic waves of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) wash through, removing toxins and restoring balance.
• But when you skip sleep, your brain becomes so desperate for this maintenance that it starts forcing these cleaning cycles during waking hours—even though it means your attention has to shut down temporarily.

“One way to think about those events is because your brain is so in need of sleep, it tries its best to enter into a sleep-like state to restore some cognitive functions,” said Zinong Yang, an MIT visiting graduate student and the lead author of the paper.

Your brain, taking charge

We like to think we’re in control—that willpower, caffeine, and determination can overcome a missed night of sleep. However, this research suggests otherwise.

When your brain needs to clean itself, it’s going to find a way to do it, whether you’re ready for it or not.

Thus, attention lapses aren’t a sign of weakness or lack of focus. They’re your brain literally hijacking your consciousness to perform essential maintenance.

So, the next time you’re sitting in that meeting, struggling to concentrate after a rough night, at least you’ll know what’s actually happening: Your brain is taking matters into its own hands, doing the housekeeping you denied it the night before.

The only real solution? Get enough sleep.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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The Potential Risk of Grapefruit Juice

Citrus fruits are considered to be very healthy, thanks to their high vitamin C content as well as the many minerals and other nutrients they contain. However, ingesting grapefruit juice can lead to severe poisoning when mixed with certain substances. A variety of medical studies in recent years found that combining grapefruit juice with certain medications can lead to an overdose. This article will discuss the reasons for these results, and list the medications you absolutely cannot mix with grapefruit.

The Grapefruit/Medication Connection 

The human body produces an enzyme called CYO3A4 that, amongst other things, helps break down certain chemicals before they are absorbed into the bloodstream. Grapefruits contain a chemical that inhibits the CYO3A4 enzyme’s functions, which leads to more of the medication being absorbed into the bloodstream. When the level of medication in the blood is too high, you enter a state of overdose, which can lead to exacerbated side-effects and even poisoning. 

 

 

 

Other Citrus Fruits 

The inhibiting chemical in grapefruit can also be found in other citrus fruits, such as pomelo, limes, and bitter oranges (a type of orange that is very bitter and is mainly used in jams). It’s important to mention that other species of oranges, as well as lemons - are safe to ingest, as they don’t contain the aforementioned chemical. 

 

 

 

Potential Severity of Reactions 

It’s difficult to predict the severity of reaction grapefruit juice will have on one's body, as it can be affected by many variables. Different juices contain different levels of the inhibiting chemical, meaning that each type of juice can have a different level of effect. Additionally, the quantity of juice consumed can have a drastically varied effect according to one's weight.

Medications that Should Not Be Taken with Grapefruit Juice:

There are currently more than 85 different medications that should not be taken with grapefruit juice, and new drugs join the list every year. The following list shows the drugs that pose the most danger when taken with Grapefruit:

                                   Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Medication

Generic name                                               Commercial names 

Amlodipine                                                        Norvasc

 

Amiodarone                                             Procor, Amiodacore, Amiocor 

 

Felodipine                                                          Logimax, Penedil 

 

Nifedipine                                             Osmo-Adalat, Nifedipine-Teva, Pressolat, Megalat 

 

Nimodipine                                                          Nimotop 

 

Quinidin                                                          Quiniduran 

 

Verapamil                                             Verapress, Apoacor, Ikacor, Ikapress, Veracor

                                            Lipid Lowering Medication

Generic name                                                           Commercial names

Atorvastatin                                                                   Lipitor 

 

Lovastatin                                                                 Lovalip 

 

Simvastatin                                                             Simovil, Simvacor, Simvastatin-Teva

                                             Tranquilizers and Psychiatric Medication

Generic name                                                              Commercial names

Buspirone                                                          Buspirol, Sorbon 

 

Clomipramine                                                Anafranil, Maronil 

 

Diazepam                                                     Assival, Diaz, Valium 

 

Midazolam                                                Dormicum, Midazol, Midazolam 

 

Pimozide                                                               Orap Forte 

 

Sertraline                                                                      Lustral

                                             Other (Immunosuppressants, antihistamines, etc.)

Generic name                                                 Commercial names

Carbamazepine                                              Carbi, Tegretol, Teril, Timonil 

 

 Cisapride                                                              Prepulsid 

 

 Cyclosporine                                                Sangcya, Sandimmun, Deximune 

 

 Itraconazole                                                        Sporanox 

 

Squinavir                                                   Invirase, Fortovase 

 

Sirolimus                                                           Rapamune 

 

Tacrolimus                                                                  Prograf

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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How Nature Helps Us Heal

Here’s one silver lining to the pandemic: with gyms, museums, and stores closed, many of us were forced to spend more time outside. I was able to ditch my car and more safely pedal the 3.5 miles on pedestrian-friendly streets to work at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, where I work practicing hospital medicine.

One morning last spring, I was reflecting on how good the ride outside made me feel when I walked in to see a 68-year-old patient with several significant behavioral and medical problems.

Before I could say a thing, he jumped in as if in mid-conversation. “Dr. Hass, I can’t thank you enough. I swear that prescription you gave me mid-COVID lockdown saved my life!” 

Nodding, I tried to hide the fact I didn’t recognize him; I assumed he was talking about an antibiotic or some other medicine. 

“I was so depressed and isolated,” he said. “You gave me a prescription to ride my bike to the marina and watch the sunset. I have been watching that sunset almost every day until I got sick last week. And the prescription is still on the fridge! I can’t thank you enough!”

That rang a bell. I have been giving out old-school paper prescriptions for about two years now, where I prescribe non-pharmaceutical steps that have been proven to make people healthier. Apparently, I had given him one to get outside and take in the natural beauty of the sunset.

“Thank you, Mr. T.,” I said. “That means a lot to me, and your feedback really helps!”

I had heard that nature can make people happier and healthier, but, embarrassingly, I envisioned it for more “outdoorsy” people like me, whatever that means. Also, I assumed it would offer just a slight bump in the happiness quotient.

Mr. T. had shown me that I had underestimated both the impact of getting outside and who could be helped. As a result, I became determined to dig a little deeper to understand the health benefits so I could do more with these prescriptions.

Nature is good for us

Luminaries like Charles Darwin, Henry David Thoreau, Virginia Woolf, and Albert Einstein have written eloquently about the benefits of taking in the natural world. Frederick Law Olmsted, the 19th century architect of many great American parks, captured the experience well:

Nature employs the mind without fatigue and yet enlivens it. Tranquilizes it and enlivens it. And thus, through the influences of the mind over body, gives the effect of refreshing rest and reinvigoration to the whole system.

It took almost 150 years, but science has verified that statement almost word for word, including by researchers associated with the Greater Good Science Center. While much of the research has been done in the U.S., Japan is where the science has been most readily embraced. Starting with research on blood pressure and stress hormone levels in the early 2000s, there is now a medical specialty in forest bathing—an activity in which more than a quarter of Japanese partake. There are nearly 100 officially sanctioned forest baths where the benefits have been demonstrated, with guides to help visitors get the most from their time. In Japan, the director of the ministry of forestry is a social scientist, not a botanist, which hints at the country’s commitment to health-through-nature. Trees are seen more as a mental health resource than one that can be extracted for profit.

What are the benefits? According to research: lower blood pressure, heart rate, and stress; improved mood and immune function; better sleep; and increased creativity. There are surprising social benefits, too. During early forest bathing experiments, physician Qing Li found that after a couple hours in the woods, blood pressure went down an average of five points. The effects didn’t end once people left the trees; stress hormones were measurably lower for a week. After three days with two hours of forest bathing, markers of immune health showed improvement that lasted a week. And, of course, almost all the people said they just felt better, too!

We are primarily visual creatures, so it is not surprising that simply looking at beautiful natural scenes makes us feel good. A heart surgeon at Vanderbilt suspected it did more than that. Looking at it closely, he found that his patients whose hospital room faced the forest healed faster than those who faced the parking garage. I never knew why hospitals are full of nature scenes until I researched for this project. Strange that this bit of data reached the architects, but not the doctors!


Nature is, of course, an all-senses experience. It’s not just about looking at the trees—you can smell them, too, and hear the wind in their branches, and touch their bark. Li’s group found that when people slept overnight breathing in essential oil from the Japanese cedar tree, they reported better sleep and had lower stress hormone levels. Since then, researchers at Vanderbilt have demonstrated nurses report less stress if this same oil is infused in their hospital workplace.

Sound researcher Joshua Smyth at Penn State has found that when people listen to songbirds, the tension in their nervous systems falls, as measured by heart rate variability; but tension increases with the rumble of cars and roar of airplanes. Researchers with the Nation Park Service found their parks “look” worse when people hear human-made sounds. That kind of urban noise can be more than an irritant: Research in Bonn, Germany, found that kids at schools subject to a lot of airplane noise have a tougher time learning than those in schools across town.

Why nature is good for us

So, why is the natural world good for us?

The biophilia theory suggested that since we evolved in nature, our senses and body rhythms are best suited for that environment. According to biologist E. O. Wilson, there is an “innate emotional affiliation with other living organisms” that makes us calm and comfortable in nature. The sounds, smells, sights are our evolutionary “happy place” where we can rest and rejuvenate. We are deeply tied to a world from where we have strayed. Despite the comforts and safety of the modern world, there is a price to pay for urban living.

Other scientists espouse something called the attention restoration theory. Rachel Kaplan at the University of Michigan says “soft fascination” with the beauty and mystery of the natural world draws us in. Nature, she says, is “enticing but not demanding.” Neuroscience research by her student Stephen Kaplan shows that looking at nature pictures let the hard-working executive function parts of the brain recover, compared to looking at urban landscapes.

Emotion scientists like the GGCS’s own Dacher Keltner believe there is something else going on as well: 

That’s the feeling we get from encountering something vast and wondrous, that challenges our comprehension. In an awed state, our jaw drops and we get goosebumps. But more than that, we have the same physiological effects we see in forest bathing, where heart rate and blood pressure drop. Beyond the physiological, there are prosocial effects to awe: less concern for self, increased generosity, and more cooperation. This might be why research suggests there is less violence when trees are incorporated into low-income housing developments.

What a prescription looks like

Researchers from Finland suggest that five hours a month is the minimum to have lasting effects (though you should leave the technology behind, or at least keep it in your pocket). It doesn’t have to be the forest; water, even urban parks, can be healing, too. 

For those with the resources, I prescribe breaks to a quiet cabin or tent for at least three days, once or twice a year. I also recommend house plants for home and office, microbreaks where you stop work to look out the window, or a couple short walks even if it is in an urban environment. If all else fails, there are always nature videos, which have been shown to have positive effects. A walk with a friend outside is a Greater Good “three-fer”: exercise, friendship, and nature all at once.

Access to the natural world is far from equitably distributed. While green space is foundational in public health and urban planning, my country, the United States, is far behind Japan, Korea, Singapore, and many European countries in efforts to integrate this idea into our society.

I see the effects of this lack of access every day. Last week, I was taking care of Ms. S., a 58-year-old woman with mental health and mobility issues complicated by poor social support. She came to the hospital with abdominal pain. Sitting down and talking to her, I could see her mood and isolation were her biggest issues.

Notes in her medical record recommended psychiatric care and medications, but I started with a different approach.

“What brings you joy, Ms. S.?”, I asked.

“Well, I loved my flower boxes I had outside my apartment,” she said. “I planted herbs and flowers. Tending the plants made me feel good, but the manager said it was a fire hazard and I have hardly been outside since they hauled them away.”

Her comments are in line with data on the benefits of touch—hands or feet in the dirt—and well-being. There is also a large body of research on the positive social and health benefits of gardening. Before she went home, our team gave her resources about community gardens, and I gave a prescription to bus to Redwood Park and the lake. While that felt insufficient, at least she felt buoyed by the idea that our health care team felt her garden was as important to her health as she did.

This is a lesson we all should learn from Ms. S.: Don’t underestimate the benefits of engaging with nature. Even if governments and institutions in the U.S. don’t get it yet, individuals can make a difference. Through efforts of hard-working citizens, vets can get outdoor therapy for PTSD. The SHINE program in the Bay Area is one of several park-health care collaboratives that get kids out of their city lives and into nature once a week. We should all be inspired by these efforts and find ways to advocate for green access as best we can.

Coming out of this long public health crisis, we should cherish all the good we can. I have tried to make this cognitive shift: Every episode outside is an opportunity to access the healing power of nature. I try to see each tree as an incredible living being and forests, the shoreline, and even my neighborhood park as sacred sites for communing with the wondrous natural world and restoring my body and mind. When I watch the sun set, I think of what it did for Mr. T.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement