Researchers who study the inextricable link between sleep, thinking, and memory advices individuals that if they want to preserve and protect their memory, a good sleep is essential.
Michael Twery, MD, former director of the National Center of Sleep Disorder Research at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in Bethesda says, that our sleep is a part of our fundamental biology, it is ingrained in the chemistry of how every cell is organized- including the processes that regulate how we learn, how we manage and express emotions and how we respond to the world.
Deep sleep is when critical parts of the memory storage process happen. During sleep an important brain waste removal process occur, which helps to clear out toxic brain byproducts which naturally gets collected within a day, as a result of normal activity and functioning. All these processes can get interrupted when you don’t get enough sleep. As a result, thinking and memory can get affected.
During sleep research has identified a “janitorial” process which happens in the brain, which will not only help capture and store new information but while you’re cycling through sleep, the brain removes the daytime buildup of toxic proteins, which if allowed to collect in the brain, can clog and kill healthy neuron, as well as the memories they store.
Studies indicate that there is an opening up of certain barriers between the brain and the rest of the circulation which might allow amyloid protein to be properly cleared, during a quality sleep.
When you don’t get to sleep for one night, the quantifiable increases in the amount of harmful amyloid protein in the brain of healthy individuals. Sleep deprivation may have a very negative effect, when it comes to the buildup of harmful amyloid proteins.
The present research suggests that during sleep, the process of filtering and cleaning out could help prevent the damage which can lead to the memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Since we know how these harmful proteins accumulate and lead to memory problems, solutions should be found to stop the process from happening.
As we’re learning more about the clearance process, it seems possible to be able to develop strategies to open the brain barriers, using drugs or technologies like ultrasound which will help to filter our amyloid.
However, our best bet in terms of protecting brain health and lowering our risk of sleep-related memory issues is getting not only enough sleep, but also quality sleep.
