There’s lots of information and studies already out there indicating good sleep helps us to function better. Now there’s a new one.
Using sleep-deprived and chronically sleep-deprived mice
We show for the first time that portions of synapses are literally eaten by astrocytes because of sleep loss – Bellesi.
The need for sleep goes far beyond simply replenishing our energy levels every 12 hours. Our brains actually change states when we sleep to clear away the toxic byproducts of neural activity left behind during the day.
Persistently poor sleep causes the brain to clear a significant amount of neurons and synaptic connections, and recovering sleep might not be able to reverse the damage.
Read the full article here.
