Sleeping on your side is best to remove waste from the brain

Sleep in a lateral position, that is on the side more efficiently remove waste from the brain, compared with sleeping on your back or stomach. As a result, it reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurological diseases. These findings are contained in the work of scientists from the State University of New York at Stony Brook ( university news release a >).

The discovery was the result of a series of experiments on mice using a dynamic contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to take pictures of lymphatic pathways - a complex system, which is responsible for the removal of the brain wastes and other hazardous chemical solutions.

The researchers also used the kinetic modeling to calculate the ratio of cerebrospinal fluid and interstitial fluid in the brain of mice under anesthesia while she was on his side, back and abdomen.

Colleagues from the University of Rochester have used fluorescence microscopy and radioactive markers, to check the data and study the effect of posture while sleeping on the conclusion of amyloids. The results were confirmed.

"Interestingly, the lateral position during sleep, and so the most popular people and most animals - it seems that we have adapted a pose in a dream to the most effective way to clean the brain of the metabolic wastes that accumulate during wakefulness," - says Meike Nedergaard (Maiken Nedergaard) from the University of Rochester and co-author of scientific work.

Output waste from the brain is most active during sleep. At this time, the cerebrospinal fluid exchanges with interstitial fluid to bring the waste to the lymph pathways similar to how the lymphatic system removes toxins from other organs of the body. Among the waste in the brain - amyloid-beta and tau proteins.

"The study provides further evidence to support the concept that a single biological function of sleep is" Cleaning the drain. " Many types of dementia associated with sleep disorders, including sleep difficulty. Everything becomes clearer the fact that sleep disorders can accelerate memory loss during Alzheimer's disease ", - added Meiko Nedergaard.

The study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience i>.

Source: geektimes.ru/post/259860/