Her study found the glymphatic clearance was mediated by a hormone called norepinephrine and happened almost exclusively during the NREM sleep phase. But it only worked when sleep was natural. Anesthesia and sleeping pills shut this process down nearly completely.

  • @[email protected]
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    54 hours ago

    I have ADHD. Without drugs, I only sleep during the day, and sometimes, I’ll skip a day and feel like crap about it no matter what I do.

    I mean without drugs. I used to be an all-natural whackadoo.

    Nowadays I do drugs about it and I’m allowed to be a real human. Guess my brain will clean itself when I die.

  • @Hackworth
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    5 hours ago

    You need healthy, natural sleep. Chew some valerian root and get more exercise.

    • @Agent641
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      25 hours ago

      Forget melatonin, I want to know wtf cheese is doing to my brain when I sleep on it.

  • [email protected]
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    4413 hours ago

    This has been fairly well known for at least 15 years among medi-academia. But discovering the specific pathways involved leaves me (femininely) turgid

  • @[email protected]
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    2913 hours ago

    The study was only on zolpidem. IMO it can probably be generalised to other Z drugs, and possibly benzos. Drugs that work by entirely different mechanisms like melatonin and orexin antagonists could be completely different.

      • Mossy Feathers (She/They)
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        712 hours ago

        Actually maybe not? Iirc most “traditional” anesthesia basically knocks you down to the bare minimum of brain activity to remain alive and reliably regain consciousness (which is why being under anesthesia is usually a “blink and you miss it” ordeal, your brain isn’t active enough to be aware that time has passed).

        However, if I’m not mistaken, stuff like ketamine or nitrous don’t do that, and sedate you in a manner more similar to natural sleep.