The reason for sleep has been discovered.

[SP33Demon]

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-10-perchance-reveals-brain-trash.html

Fascinating stuff, and I wonder how much lack of sleep equates to the onset of dementia since amyloid plaques weren't cleared out. For example, say you only get 3 hours, how much of the brain trash would cleared out the next night? Would consistent lack of sleep cause permanent damage since the brain would not have enough time to clean itself?

With that said, I'm actually going to bed early tonight.

 

[Imp]

Well, I'm effed. I never seem to get enough sleep because I'm a night person (natural sleeping time is 3am) and the world is built for regular/day people.

 

[dighn]

interesting. can't help but feel that's just one of the functions though. evolution likes to give things multiple purposes.

guess I should be glad that i generally try to get enough sleep.

 

[Jeff7]

Neat.

So how long until they figure out a cure for sleep?
:hmm:


It's amusing to think about how we go about that. Evolution figured, "Oh crap, the lights are out. Might as well just switch off."
It's just interesting that that's the way it works for so many lifeforms here, that there's always that daily period of downtime, rather than adapting to be able to function continuously in night or day. Being mostly inactive and unaware for such a long period of time does seem like a pretty big liability, especially if you're a big sack of ambulatory meat that's living in a place with large nocturnal predators - predators that would love to find a meal that didn't need to be chased.

I'd love to see what life would be like on a planet that had become tidally locked to its star, or which just had a really slow rate of rotation. Venus has a day that's longer than its year - both are more than 200 Earth days. What would Venus life do? Stationary life, such as plants, might have a really long circadian rhythm. What about life that could move? Would it just continually move around, staying in the light, and lacking any sleep cycle?

Come to think of it...what does life at the bottom of the ocean do, where there is effectively no usable light? Or those living deep inside of caves? Sleep whenever they feel like it? No sleep pattern at all?

 

[Ichinisan]

Gotta do something about this effing train outside my apartment. Even when I do sleep, it's not real / restful sleep. I can tell that my brain has declined rapidly in the last 6 or 7 years.

Not sure if earplugs will help because I can feel when the train is going by.

 

[Crono]

I've always said sleep is defrag for the brain.
Scheduled maintenance. Cron job.

 

[Ichinisan]

So how long until they figure out a cure for sleep?

We'll, the process would apparently make perception go haywire and you'd hallucinate (dreams and nightmares) while you were awake.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Fascinating stuff, and I wonder how much lack of sleep equates to the onset of dementia since amyloid plaques weren't cleared out. For example, say you only get 3 hours, how much of the brain trash would cleared out the next night? Would consistent lack of sleep cause permanent damage since the brain would not have enough time to clean itself?

Would not showering for a month leave you so dirty that the next shower couldn't clean you?

 

[Crono]

Gotta do something about this effing train outside my apartment. Even when I do sleep, it's not real / restful sleep. I can tell that my brain has declined rapidly in the last 6 or 7 years.

Not sure if earplugs will help because I can feel when the train is going by.

I use white noise (free apps on Android, iOS, WP, etc), mostly pink noise and fan setting, to block out noise since construction goes on nearby during the day when I sleep, but I wouldn't know what to do about vibration.

 

[BoomerD]

I don't know about any of that...but dammit, I'd like to "discover" some sleep tonight. fucking 05:30 and I still can't sleep.

I hate nights like this.

Hey...something to add to the "What do you hate?" list!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Thanks OP, I've found a new respect for sleep 🙂

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know about any of that...but dammit, I'd like to "discover" some sleep tonight. fucking 05:30 and I still can't sleep.

I hate nights like this.

Hey...something to add to the "What do you hate?" list!

You're completely retired, right? Start keeping a cat's schedule. Sleep when you need to sleep for little bits at a time. You don't have to conform to societal standards anymore. You can do what you want.

 

[BUTCH1]

Gotta do something about this effing train outside my apartment. Even when I do sleep, it's not real / restful sleep. I can tell that my brain has declined rapidly in the last 6 or 7 years.

Not sure if earplugs will help because I can feel when the train is going by.

I've lived close to the tracks for close to 30 years, my brain is programmed itself to ignore the noise.

 

[mmntech]

Gotta do something about this effing train outside my apartment. Even when I do sleep, it's not real / restful sleep. I can tell that my brain has declined rapidly in the last 6 or 7 years.

Not sure if earplugs will help because I can feel when the train is going by.

Yeah, I have the same problem. Go to bed with the hoons reving their straight pipe Civics, woken up by dump trucks barrelling up the back at 5am. Since I work afternoons, 5am is the middle of the night for me.

I've often though about tailing the hoons with my headlights off to freak them out.

 

[Carson Dyle]

You're completely retired, right? Start keeping a cat's schedule. Sleep when you need to sleep for little bits at a time. You don't have to conform to societal standards anymore. You can do what you want.

BAD idea. My guess is that's why he's up at 5:30AM. If you have no daily commitments or schedule, it's very easy to screw up your sleep pattern so that you're sleeping too much or too little, or sleeping in the middle of the day and wondering why you're getting nothing done.

 

[Kaido]

The reason for sleep has been discovered.

Because we get tired? :awe:

 

[lxskllr]

BAD idea. My guess is that's why he's up at 5:30AM. If you have no daily commitments or schedule, it's very easy to screw up your sleep pattern so that you're sleeping too much or too little, or sleeping in the middle of the day and wondering why you're getting nothing done.

Stuff can get done at any time. The only constraint is noisy outside work, and that isn't a problem if you're in the country.

 

[Ichinisan]

I've lived close to the tracks for close to 30 years, my brain is programmed itself to ignore the noise.

Mine too. It usually doesn't wake me up, but I'm not getting the right kind of restful sleep.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Stuff can get done at any time.

At 3AM you can't go to the bank or the pharmacy. You can't pick up dry cleaning or buy shoes at the mall. You can't have your oil changed or your tires rotated. You can't go hiking or play a round of golf or go fly fishing. You can't see a doctor or have your eyes examined.

There are very good reasons why most people sleep during the same period of the day. No, you don't absolutely have to if you have no life. But most people do, or at least they want to have one.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

BAD idea. My guess is that's why he's up at 5:30AM. If you have no daily commitments or schedule, it's very easy to screw up your sleep pattern so that you're sleeping too much or too little, or sleeping in the middle of the day and wondering why you're getting nothing done.

It's easy to say harder to execute. Especially when you torture yourself through the day keeping yourself up and still end up with insomnia at night.

 

[SP33Demon]

Would not showering for a month leave you so dirty that the next shower couldn't clean you?

I don't think it's that simple since the amyloids can permanently stay in our brain which equates to dementia and Alz. The question is how do these amyloids stay in our brain and is lack of sleep a contributor?

 

[tcsenter]

Yeah, its good but there is a lot more going on than just cellular housekeeping. Replenishing enzymes, memory consolidation and neuroplasticity, etc.

 

[Jaskalas]

I don't think it's that simple since the amyloids can permanently stay in our brain which equates to dementia and Alz. The question is how do these amyloids stay in our brain and is lack of sleep a contributor?

Maybe a forced increase in sleep duration / day would assist in their removal, or perhaps prevention.

Hell, maybe all patients need is a long drug induced coma. Clear out the cobwebs.

 

[tcsenter]

Maybe a forced increase in sleep duration / day would assist in their removal, or perhaps prevention. Hell, maybe all patients need is a long drug induced coma. Clear out the cobwebs.

Almost all drugs used to induce unconsciousness will to some degree or another also suppress some areas of the brain that are activated during sleep, particularly during REM. One exception is GHB, which appears to leave more of these areas free to become activated like normal and can be used to consolidate heavily fragmented nocturnal sleep (as seen in narcolepsy). Still, there is a "cycle" for sleep processes that is heavily influenced by what is called the circadian rhythm (which we don't understand well).

 

[Bill Brasky]

Yeah, its good but there is a lot more going on than just cellular housekeeping. Replenishing enzymes, memory consolidation and neuroplasticity, etc.

Solid input. :thumbsup:

I also think it's interesting that a night of sleep deprivation followed by a large rebound sleep is far inferior to two shorter, normal sleeps. And I'm talking from a learning and memory function standpoint.