(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Kitchen Table Kibitzing: Portable Sleeping Caps Offer Promise for Insomniacs [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-11-17

Do you have problems with sleep? I have gone through episodes of insomnia my whole life and so I was intrigued when I came across an article saying the US Army might be coming to the rescue.

The Army has issued a $2.8 million grant for the first year of research into a portable ‘sleeping cap’ that will help people suffering from insomnia. The cap would be used to assist the brain’s “glymphatic system” clear waste in the central nervous system, activating cerebrospinal fluid which helps the brain clean out the harmful waste during sleep.

This probably explains why my brain always feels so (dare I say) toxic when I am having sleeping problems. It’s certainly not a place I want to spend much time in.

Wikipedia has the most incomprehensible comprehensible explanation of what the glymphatic system is, defining it as basically the system for waste clearance in the central nervous system.

According to this model, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flows into the paravascular space around cerebral arteries, combining with interstitial fluid (ISF) and parenchymal solutes, and exiting down venous paravascular spaces

Okay. Got that?

The system was named after the role of glial cells, which are non-neuronal cells in the brain and spinal cord that don’t produce electric impulses.They control the firing of nerves, brain plasticity, and immune responses. They shrink during sleep, making way for the clearing out of metabolic waste.

So if you don’t sleep those glial cells probably swell up. Could this lead to absent mindedness? Confusion? Agitation?

​​​​​​

"We used to believe sleep was the time that the body rests, but when you look at the brain during certain sleep cycles, you see it is very, very active," explains Dr. Gavin Britz, director of the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute and the Candy and Tom Knudson Centennial Chair of Neurosurgery. "We also see a very strong link between abnormal sleep and disease states, including heart disease, obesity and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's. It's clear that something essential happens during sleep."

The goal of the project is to develop technology that can improve the clearance of waste even without improving the amount or quality of a person's sleep. "Whether it is psychological stress, trauma, sleep apnea, weight- or heart disease-associated concerns or the natural aging process that tends to make us lighter sleepers, the end result is the same — metabolites accumulate and cause problems for the body and the brain," says Dr. Britz. "We are developing this cap to try and bypass the need for eight hours of high-quality sleep so that even people who sleep poorly can get rid of their waste products efficiently."

Basically, the cap won’t help you sleep more but will help you from suffering the consequences if you don’t sleep.

I wondered what was the relationship between lack of sleep and being overweight. Found my answer at The Sleep Foundation.

Sleep loss creates a hormone imbalance in the body that promotes overeating and weight gain. Leptin and ghrelin are hormones that regulate appetite, and when you aren’t getting sufficient sleep, the production of these hormones is altered in a way that creates increased feelings of hunger. Sleep deprivation is associated with growth hormone deficiency and elevated cortisol levels, both of which have been linked to obesity. Additionally, insufficient sleep can impair your metabolism of food. Unfortunately, the effects of sleep loss on weight are not limited to changes at the chemical level. Restricted sleep duration has been shown to cause a greater tendency to select high-calorie foods2. Calories consumed late at night increase the risk of weight gain. Furthermore, adults who do not get sufficient sleep get less exercise3 than those who do, possibly because sleep loss causes sleepiness and fatigue during the day.

Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/17/2135903/-Kitchen-Table-Kibitzing-Portable-Sleeping-Caps-Offer-Promise-for-Insomniacs

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.