Friday, October 18, 2013
LOS ANGELES, CA -- When we sleep, our brains get rid of gunk that builds up while we're awake, suggests a study that may provide new clues to treat Alzheimer's disease and other disorders.
This cleaning was detected in the brains of sleeping mice, but scientists said there's reason to think it happens in people too.
If so, the finding may mean that for people with dementia and other mind disorders, "sleep would perhaps be even more important in slowing the progression of further damage," Dr. Clete Kushida, medical director of the Stanford Sleep Medicine Center, said in an email.
Kushida did not participate in the study, which appears in Friday's issue of the journal Science.
People who don't get enough shut-eye have trouble learning and making decisions, and are slower to react. But despite decades of research, scientists can't agree on the basic purpose of sleep. Reasons range from processing memory, saving energy to regulating the body.
The latest work, led by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center, adds fresh evidence to a long-standing view: When we close our eyes, our brains go on a cleaning spree.
Read the rest....
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/health&id=9291871&cmp=emc-ktrk-Todays_News-102013-ABC13_HealthCheck1-9291871
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