Sleep May Clear Toxins From the Brain

Everyone needs sleep, but, as the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke puts it, its biological purpose remains a mystery. One clue has emerged. The institute reports that recent findings suggest sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain that build up while you are awake. The wording is careful, and ours follows it: the findings suggest this, they do not settle it. What is clear is how much depends on sleep. The institute calls quality sleep as essential to survival as food and water. Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells communicate with each other, and it affects almost every type of tissue and system in the body. A chronic lack of sleep increases the risk of problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and obesity.