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.   

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
https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

 

These 5 Habits Are Seriously Damaging Your Liver

The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body. Everything that we eat must be processed by the liver before its nutrients can be distributed throughout the body. The liver has a wide range of functions and it plays a vital role in a number of physiological processes, including blood detoxification and metabolic function. As a result, our body’s health is directly related to the health of our liver. 

 

Although the liver is capable of replacing damaged cells, if too many cells are lost, the liver may not be able to function correctly. There are several bad habits that are part of our everyday life which may increase the risk of liver damage and pain. We may not even realize it, as the damage can be gradual with no obvious symptoms. However, over a period of time, these habits can cause severe damage to your liver, putting your life in jeopardy.

So, let us take a look at some of the common bad habits that can damage your liver.

1. Excessive Alcohol

Heavy alcohol consumption is the most common cause of liver damage. Excessive alcohol decreases the liver’s ability to remove toxins from the body. This is because the liver gets distracted from its other functions, and focuses mainly on converting the alcohol into a less toxic form, and this causes fatty liver disease and inflammation.

 

When the liver tries to break down alcohol, the resulting chemical reaction damages the liver cells, and after a long period of consuming excessive alcohol, the damage will become permanent, causing cirrhosis (which leads to loss of liver function). Furthermore, the liver’s attempts to repair the damaged caused can lead to DNA mutations that initiate cancerous growths. 

 

2. Overuse of Medications 

As one of the liver’s roles is to break down substances that we consume, including medications, supplements, and herbs, consuming too much of a certain medication can gradually harm our liver. This damage can range from mild to complete liver failure. 

 

One of the most well-known medications that can cause liver damage is acetaminophen, which is commonly available without prescription and can be found in many cold and flu remedies as well as prescription pain medications. This substance is safe in small doses, but you can damage your liver if you take too much of it over the course of several days. 

 

Certain herbal remedies and natural supplements can also be harmful to the liver in excess amounts. For example, a well-known cause of liver toxicity is too much vitamin A. This is why it is vitally important to check the label of any medicine or supplement to see if there are any warnings about potential liver damage. 

 

3. Smoking

Smoking is one habit you must give up if you ever want to be healthy. Cigarette smoke affects the liver indirectly. The toxic chemicals that are found in the smoke eventually reach the liver and cause oxidative stress that produces free radicals that damage the cells. 

 

This oxidative stress can also cause fibrosis, a process in which the liver develops excess tissue, similar to that of scar tissue, during its attempt to repair itself, and, over time, this can greatly affect the liver’s ability to work properly. 

 

4. Sleep Deprivation 

A study that was published in the Journal of anatomy found that sleep deprivation can cause oxidative stress to the liver. Another study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals why shift work and people who suffer from sleep deprivation suffer from a range of health problems. Including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. 

 

This study found that the livers of the subjects weren’t processing fat efficiently, allowing fat to accumulate. Furthermore, when we sleep, our body goes into a repair process. Therefore, you need to make sure that you get a good 8 hours of sleep per night, as a lack of sleep will ruin your elimination process and damage your liver. 

 

5. Obesity and Poor Nutrition

Obesity has been linked to poor eating habits and this can harm your liver over a period of time. The reason for this is because too much of the wrong food causes excess fat to build-up in the liver, known as NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). 

 

The liver normally helps to process and regulate the amount of sugar and fat in our blood, but in obese people, the liver becomes overwhelmed and starts storing excess fats in its own liver cells, either because there is no other place to put them, or the liver has failed to break them down. Over time, if too much fat accumulates in the liver, the liver can become inflamed and the liver cells can be damaged. 

 

Food to Eat or Avoid 

• Consuming a large amount of processed foods, which are often full of preservatives, additives, artificial sweeteners, and flavorings exposes the liver to damage because they are hard to break down and are full of chemicals. 

 

• Processed foods are also full of salt, which not only increases blood pressure, but can also cause fatty liver disease by building up fluid in the liver and causing swelling. 

 

• Not eating enough leafy greens, fruits, and other vegetables (which are a great source of antioxidants), will not give the body enough vitamin C and E, zinc, beta-carotene, and selenium, all of which help to keep the liver healthy. 

 

• Vitamin B12, mainly found in meat, is used by the liver to help with the flow of bile, so it’s important not to have a vitamin B12 deficiency. Other B vitamins also help in the liver’s detoxification process, and they can be found in dried fruits, nuts, egg yolks, fish, brown rice, and legumes.

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
https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

These 5 Habits Are Seriously Damaging Your Liver

 The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body. Everything that we eat must be processed by the liver before its nutrients can be distributed throughout the body. The liver has a wide range of functions and it plays a vital role in a number of physiological processes, including blood detoxification and metabolic function. As a result, our body’s health is directly related to the health of our liver. 

Although the liver is capable of replacing damaged cells, if too many cells are lost, the liver may not be able to function correctly. There are several bad habits that are part of our everyday life which may increase the risk of liver damage and pain. We may not even realize it, as the damage can be gradual with no obvious symptoms. However, over a period of time, these habits can cause severe damage to your liver, putting your life in jeopardy.

So, let us take a look at some of the common bad habits that can damage your liver.

1. Excessive alcohol

Heavy alcohol consumption is the most common cause of liver damage. Excessive alcohol decreases the liver’s ability to remove toxins from the body. This is because the liver gets distracted from its other functions, and focuses mainly on converting the alcohol into a less toxic form, and this causes fatty liver disease and inflammation. 

 

When the liver tries to break down alcohol, the resulting chemical reaction damages the liver cells, and after a long period of consuming excessive alcohol, the damage will become permanent, causing cirrhosis (which leads to loss of liver function). Furthermore, the liver’s attempts to repair the damaged caused can lead to DNA mutations that initiate cancerous growths. 

 

2. Overuse of Medications 

As one of the liver’s roles is to break down substances that we consume, including medications, supplements, and herbs, consuming too much of a certain medication can gradually harm our liver. This damage can range from mild to complete liver failure.

One of the most well-known medications that can cause liver damage is acetaminophen, which is commonly available without prescription and can be found in many cold and flu remedies as well as prescription pain medications. This substance is safe in small doses, but you can damage your liver if you take too much of it over the course of several days. 

 

Certain herbal remedies and natural supplements can also be harmful to the liver in excess amounts. For example, a well-known cause of liver toxicity is too much vitamin A. This is why it is vitally important to check the label of any medicine or supplement to see if there are any warnings about potential liver damage.

 

3. Smoking

Smoking is one habit you must give up if you ever want to be healthy. Cigarette smoke affects the liver indirectly. The toxic chemicals that are found in the smoke eventually reach the liver and cause oxidative stress that produces free radicals that damage the cells. 

 

This oxidative stress can also cause fibrosis, a process in which the liver develops excess tissue, similar to that of scar tissue, during its attempt to repair itself, and, over time, this can greatly affect the liver’s ability to work properly. 

 

4. Sleep Deprivation 

A study that was published in the Journal of anatomy found that sleep deprivation can cause oxidative stress to the liver. Another study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals why shift work and people who suffer from sleep deprivation suffer from a range of health problems. Including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. 

 

This study found that the livers of the subjects weren’t processing fat efficiently, allowing fat to accumulate. Furthermore, when we sleep, our body goes into a repair process. Therefore, you need to make sure that you get a good 8 hours of sleep per night, as a lack of sleep will ruin your elimination process and damage your liver. 

 

5. Obesity and Poor Nutrition

Obesity has been linked to poor eating habits and this can harm your liver over a period of time. The reason for this is because too much of the wrong food causes excess fat to build-up in the liver, known as NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). 

 

The liver normally helps to process and regulate the amount of sugar and fat in our blood, but in obese people, the liver becomes overwhelmed and starts storing excess fats in its own liver cells, either because there is no other place to put them, or the liver has failed to break them down. Over time, if too much fat accumulates in the liver, the liver can become inflamed and the liver cells can be damaged. 

 

Food to Eat or Avoid  

• Consuming a large amount of processed foods, which are often full of preservatives, additives, artificial sweeteners, and flavorings exposes the liver to damage because they are hard to break down and are full of chemicals. 

 

• Processed foods are also full of salt, which not only increases blood pressure, but can also cause fatty liver disease by building up fluid in the liver and causing swelling. 

 

• Not eating enough leafy greens, fruits, and other vegetables (which are a great source of antioxidants), will not give the body enough vitamin C and E, zinc, beta-carotene, and selenium, all of which help to keep the liver healthy. 

 

• Vitamin B12, mainly found in meat, is used by the liver to help with the flow of bile, so it’s important not to have a vitamin B12 deficiency. Other B vitamins also help in the liver’s detoxification process, and they can be found in dried fruits, nuts, egg yolks, fish, brown rice, and legumes.

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
https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs

Poll reveals 64% Indians don’t sleep enough; here’s what doctors want you to know about sleep issues

If there was one thing that we took for granted, it was sleeping. A decade ago you would not hear about sleep problems like you do today. If we slept late one day, we would make up for it the next. But what if the sleep eludes you and you are left staring at your ceiling waiting for it to set in? Over the past few years, we have been made aware that lack of sleep is linked to weight gain, is an indicator of an underlying condition and in extreme cases can lead to dangerous consequences. 

ETimes conducted a sleep poll where it was revealed that 64% of the participants feel that they do not sleep enough. Up to 51% people shared that they sleep for 4-6 hours only and 10% clock less than 4 hours of sleep.

Sleep issues are highly under-reported

Dr. Sanjiv Badhwar is Consultant and Head, ENT services at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital shares sleep disorders have been largely under reported in our country but we have noticed an increase in the number of patients coming forward over the past 1 year. We are seeing the whole spectrum of sleep disorders, be it sleep deprivation, sleep fragmentation, difficulty in sleep initiation and sleep Apnea. We are also seeing a number of children presenting with sleep Apnea. The overall incidence of sleep Apnea in our country for adults is around 15% and in children around 3.4 to 5%.

How to identify a sleep disorder

But how do you know you have a sleep disorder? Dr Badhwar adds, “A sleep disorder is diagnosed by a careful history, the use of some basic questionnaires, namely, the stop-bang questionnaire and the Epworth sleepiness scale and clinical examination. After this the patient undergoes relevant investigations for the same which may include some basic blood tests, x-rays and scans. The mainstay of diagnosis is the sleep study (polysomnography) which essentially is a test which tells us about the quality of sleep, the number of times an individual’s breathing stops during sleep, vital parameters and the oxygen saturation during sleep. This study gives us an indication if the patient has sleep apnea or not and if so - is it mild, moderate or severe. An adjunctive test is the sleep endoscopy where the exact level of obstruction during sleep is ascertained.”

There are some signs that one must not ignore when it comes to sleep. For example, if you have excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, disturbed sleep, gasping for air during sleep, loud snoring during sleep, extreme fatigue during the day, early morning headaches, irritability, mood swings, dry mouth, forgetfulness and recent onset of cardio vascular events, you may have sleep apnea and need to consult your doctor.

It needs to be noted that the long term effects of sleep deprivation are real. There is a drain on mental ability and the individual's physical health is at risk. There can be memory issues, mood changes, trouble with thinking and concentration, accidents during driving, weakened immunity, risk for diabetes, risk of heart disease, high BP and at times a low sex drive, the doctor added.

How to differentiate between regular snoring and sleep apnoea

Snoring is loud noise whilst breathing during sleep. This may or may not be sleep apnoea. For a lay person the most obvious way to differentiate is to identify how one feels during the day. Normal snoring does not interfere with the quality of sleep, so you are less likely to experience fatigue, irritability and sleepiness during the day. However the only way to be sure is a careful clinical examination and a sleep study.

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