WEBVTT - Night Janitors of the Brain

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff

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<v Speaker 1>Works dot com. Hey, wasn't the stuffed with all your mind?

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<v Speaker 1>My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie Wins.

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<v Speaker 1>The last time you managed to score a full night

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<v Speaker 1>of sleep last night for the first time in nights glorious,

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<v Speaker 1>Like you wake up feeling like a new person, you do,

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<v Speaker 1>you really wake up feeling refreshed. I was able to

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<v Speaker 1>get a pretty good night's sleep myself last night because

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<v Speaker 1>I slept alone on the couch, um, because the toddlers

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<v Speaker 1>is it still has a cold and ends up sleeping

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<v Speaker 1>in the bed, and so you get the night migration. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>And then of course once the toddlers in the bed,

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<v Speaker 1>they just kind of like turn like a like a

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<v Speaker 1>turbine all night. Um. And then this case also coughing,

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<v Speaker 1>So I knew I had the podcast hit the couch.

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<v Speaker 1>Full night's sleep. Woke up so much, so much better,

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<v Speaker 1>like actually able to to think about the topics that

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<v Speaker 1>we were recording today and to some degree articulate those thoughts. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm always amazed by what the sort of powers that

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<v Speaker 1>can bestow upon you when you have a good night's sleep,

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<v Speaker 1>and sometimes I wake up thinking, oh I'm back. Oh

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<v Speaker 1>yeah you hey you Julie, I know you. Yeah. It

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<v Speaker 1>really were a different person when we've had a full

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<v Speaker 1>night's sleep. We were we're in a since our best person.

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<v Speaker 1>Like I think back to times where I would try

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<v Speaker 1>to do something either um mentally intense or creatively intense,

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<v Speaker 1>by staying up ridiculously late at night to work on it.

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<v Speaker 1>Be it like you know, school project or you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a bit of fiction I was trying to write. And

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<v Speaker 1>now nowadays I I just I look back and just

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<v Speaker 1>complete disbelief, Like why would I try and do that

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<v Speaker 1>on the last remaining bit of energy that I had

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<v Speaker 1>in my my noggin when I could have had a

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<v Speaker 1>full night's sleep, woken up and tackle the fresh Because

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<v Speaker 1>you're young and foolish. Exactly, That's just what it goes. Um.

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<v Speaker 1>I actually was thinking about those, thinking about how we

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<v Speaker 1>humans require so much sleep. In some ways, it feels

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<v Speaker 1>really ridiculous, right because we're these apex predators. So far,

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<v Speaker 1>we're we're dominating out there among other species. And then

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<v Speaker 1>I think I wonder if tiny dust mites with their

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<v Speaker 1>tiny sharpie scrawl things on my head while I'm sleeping

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<v Speaker 1>at night, like I just pooped on this apex predator's

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<v Speaker 1>head ha ha ha and laugh at us. Why does

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<v Speaker 1>this giant being needs so much sleep? It rules the planet,

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<v Speaker 1>and yet it decides to just shut its eyes and

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<v Speaker 1>drift off into La la land for a large portion

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<v Speaker 1>of its time here on Earth. Yeah, in a very

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerable position. Right, You're immobile, You're vulnerable, and this for

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<v Speaker 1>our ancestors would have been pretty risky business. Yeah. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>you get into believe we're discussed in the past, like

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<v Speaker 1>the theories about our dreams about falling. It's a leftover

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<v Speaker 1>from days when when falling from your your your perch

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<v Speaker 1>of slumber in the trees would probably mean something would

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<v Speaker 1>eat you. I love that theory. I think it's really interesting.

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<v Speaker 1>Um so, yeah, I mean does bring up this idea

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<v Speaker 1>that is there more to sleep than meets the eye,

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<v Speaker 1>just then consolidating some of our memories or making us

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<v Speaker 1>feel refreshed, as there's something going on in the background

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<v Speaker 1>that is essential to survival. Yeah, and I mean, and

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<v Speaker 1>clearly it's essential. We've talked before about you know, can

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<v Speaker 1>we have a cure for sleep? Are their ways to

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<v Speaker 1>artificially achieve what sleep does for us. And the hard

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<v Speaker 1>answer is no, you can sort of, you can kick

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<v Speaker 1>that can down the street a little bit, but eventually

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<v Speaker 1>you're gonna have to go to sleep or the consences

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<v Speaker 1>are going to grow more and more dire, leading up

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<v Speaker 1>to hallucinations and death right. As we will discover, there

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<v Speaker 1>is no substitute for the night janitors of the brain

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<v Speaker 1>and what they do, and we'll talk about that in

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<v Speaker 1>a minute, but before we get into that, let's talk

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<v Speaker 1>about the awe inspiring an energy draining splendor that is

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<v Speaker 1>the human brain. What sets us apart, why we need

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<v Speaker 1>to rest so much, because if you think about it,

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<v Speaker 1>um our brain is taking up about the energy. So

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<v Speaker 1>if you equate that with like the world energy sources,

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<v Speaker 1>we'd be like the brain would be like the U

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<v Speaker 1>S and China. Yeah, just glowing there in the night.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah. To think about the mammalian brain is

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<v Speaker 1>specifically the human brain. I love the analogy that we've

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<v Speaker 1>touched on in the past of the ice cream cun

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<v Speaker 1>You have the basic brain as the scoop of gray

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<v Speaker 1>matter up there on the cone and and for you know,

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<v Speaker 1>most creatures, that's that's all you need. It takes care

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<v Speaker 1>of all ther your your basic functions, but for us,

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<v Speaker 1>humans especially, we need a little more. We need a

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<v Speaker 1>little extra scoop on top of that. Yeah, it's true.

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<v Speaker 1>If we trace the brains evolution from fish to amphibians, too, reptiles,

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<v Speaker 1>to mammals and finally humans, we see that the parts

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<v Speaker 1>of the brain that have grown the most and human

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<v Speaker 1>beings are the neo cortex, specifically the prefrontal cortex, and

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<v Speaker 1>mammals were given this upgrade, the second scoop, if you will,

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<v Speaker 1>that neo cortex, so we could deal with all sorts

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<v Speaker 1>of things parenting, mathematics, language, and humans. So it's really

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<v Speaker 1>important to our survival. So now think about this. As

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<v Speaker 1>reported in the journal Science, researchers who have examined preserved

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<v Speaker 1>samples of cerebral cortex from humans and several species of

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<v Speaker 1>a report that in particular region, in a particular region

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<v Speaker 1>of the prefrontal cortex. Now this is the area that

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<v Speaker 1>contributes to abstract thinking again sophisticated cognition. Neurons have more

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<v Speaker 1>space between them in the human brain than in the

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<v Speaker 1>brains of apes, and this extra space allows for more

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<v Speaker 1>room for connections between neurons and Why is that important

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<v Speaker 1>because we have about I don't know, two hundred billion

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<v Speaker 1>nerve cells which are connected to one another via hundreds

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<v Speaker 1>of trillions of synapsis. Yeah, and these are essentially microprocessors.

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<v Speaker 1>We've discussed how these work out before. They're they're both

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<v Speaker 1>memory storage and information processing elements. Uh, uh and uh

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<v Speaker 1>and they're essential to all this complex uh thoughts, all

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<v Speaker 1>the all these of all this computation that we're able

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<v Speaker 1>to achieve, all the uh this this management of information

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<v Speaker 1>across all of these different parts of the brain. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>this is crazy. One synapse may contain on the order

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<v Speaker 1>of one thousand molecular scale switches, and a single human

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<v Speaker 1>brain has more switches than all the computers and routers

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<v Speaker 1>and internet connections on Earth. And that's from Stephen Smith,

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<v Speaker 1>who is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology. So

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<v Speaker 1>what we're saying there is that that is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of electricity going on in the old noggin and a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of wear and tear. So what is what happens

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<v Speaker 1>with all of that use? Yeah? I like to think

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<v Speaker 1>of think of this in terms of an old house

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<v Speaker 1>that that hasn't had a lot of electrical upgrades. To it,

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<v Speaker 1>but the individuals living inside it, their electrical needs have

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<v Speaker 1>evolved over time. There they have more and more gadgets

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<v Speaker 1>they need to be plugged up. They have more and

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<v Speaker 1>more just just chunks of their entertainment system that need

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<v Speaker 1>to plug into the wall and plug into this, that

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<v Speaker 1>and the other, and so eventually get these overpowered uh

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<v Speaker 1>um outlets where with all these power strips aga into

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<v Speaker 1>power strips. Uh And because that's essentially one of the

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<v Speaker 1>things about about the evolution of the human brain, it

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't as much takeaway old stuff is just pile on more.

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<v Speaker 1>It's just this this ice cream cone that's uh at

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<v Speaker 1>times seems a little toppling. Yeah, and of course you

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<v Speaker 1>have by products from that, and we'll talk a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit more about that, but before we do, we're gonna

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<v Speaker 1>take a quick break, and then we'll find out about

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<v Speaker 1>this night janitor who's coming to clean away the debris

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<v Speaker 1>and positively even the disease. The night Genitor is coming

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<v Speaker 1>for you. All Right, we're back, and I think we

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<v Speaker 1>all have experienced what happens when we over tax our brains.

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<v Speaker 1>Your little nappy poo coming on, or just absolute mental exhaustion. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you just it's harder to string your thoughts together. It's

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<v Speaker 1>harder to uh to prepare for a podcast, much less

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<v Speaker 1>performed one. It's harder to put up with things too.

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<v Speaker 1>It's hard to be patient with people with toddlers, with

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<v Speaker 1>though with whatever your circumstances are. You just feel a

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<v Speaker 1>little more trapped in the maze rather than wandering the labyrinth.

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<v Speaker 1>It's harder to learn new things to write, because that's

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<v Speaker 1>what happens when you're sleeping, and you get the formation

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<v Speaker 1>of new neuronal connections and the pruning of old ones.

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<v Speaker 1>So we know that there is a lot of up

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<v Speaker 1>keep going on, But what about all that mental exercise? Again,

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<v Speaker 1>those byproducts, because if you look at the human body,

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<v Speaker 1>the lymphatic system, you will see that when the body's

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<v Speaker 1>muscles exert sustained energy, they create toxic byproducts in your

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<v Speaker 1>muscle cells. And this is according to Maria Konokov reading

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<v Speaker 1>for The New York Times, the lymphatic system serves as

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<v Speaker 1>the body's custodian. Whenever waste is form, it sweeps it clean.

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<v Speaker 1>The brain, however, is out of reach of this system. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>we've we've we've keep adding all of the gear to

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<v Speaker 1>the old brain. But it's shut off from from the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of us. It's a it's it's it's not in

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<v Speaker 1>a position for servicing by the Lympic systems. So what's

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<v Speaker 1>going to clean it up? Who's going to clean it up?

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<v Speaker 1>The old idea is that that the brain rid itself

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<v Speaker 1>of metabolites and beta amyloids, these are actually associated with

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<v Speaker 1>Alzheimer's was that it broke it down and recycled it

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<v Speaker 1>at an individual level. But Mike ken Nindogrod, a Danish

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<v Speaker 1>biologist who has been leading research into sleep function at

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<v Speaker 1>the University of Rochester, didn't think that that made sense.

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<v Speaker 1>She thought, you know, the brain is way too busy

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<v Speaker 1>to be recycling all of its own energy. And she

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<v Speaker 1>suspected that the brain shared the same kind of system

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<v Speaker 1>that muscles and the lymphatic system have. Yeah, and it's

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<v Speaker 1>it makes perfect sense, right. Why would uh, why would

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<v Speaker 1>the brain have a different structure in place? I would

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<v Speaker 1>have a different system entirely. It seems like you would

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<v Speaker 1>have a system more in keeping with what the rest

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<v Speaker 1>of the body is doing to to carry out the

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<v Speaker 1>same task. But it was a mystery, right because you

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<v Speaker 1>know that the brain creates these byproducts. How in the

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<v Speaker 1>world are they ushered out? And why are they sometimes

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<v Speaker 1>sitting in your brain and collecting um. So this system

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<v Speaker 1>that she thought about is again similar to the lymphatic system,

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<v Speaker 1>but this one is predicated on the rebro spinal fluid

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<v Speaker 1>and what near de Guard calls the glymphatic system, and

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<v Speaker 1>that that gly glymphatic system is a nod to the

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<v Speaker 1>brain's cleil cells, which maintain homeostasis and protect neurons. So

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<v Speaker 1>what did she do? What would any good scientists do?

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<v Speaker 1>Go grab a bunch of mice and spy on them

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<v Speaker 1>while they slept. Yeah, that's just what's what they did.

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<v Speaker 1>They injected UM mice with fluescent tracers right into their

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<v Speaker 1>cerebro spinal fluids and this allow them to track where

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<v Speaker 1>the fluids are going during the course of their sleep. Yeah. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>during the mices waking hours, the cerebro spinal fluid barely

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<v Speaker 1>made it into the brain. But once they were asleep

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<v Speaker 1>and the sleep was induced, of course the brain cells

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<v Speaker 1>in in the mice shrunk and that made way for

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<v Speaker 1>a flood of the fluid, essentially hosing down the brain

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<v Speaker 1>of waste products. We're talking the waste products or proteins

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<v Speaker 1>that are toxic to the brain, and so it's turns

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<v Speaker 1>out that the brain's interstitial space, the fluid filled area

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<v Speaker 1>between tissue cells that take up about the brain's total volume,

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<v Speaker 1>is mainly dedicated to physically removing the cells daily waste.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's essentially a flood moving through just washing out

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<v Speaker 1>all the toxins. It's it's it's like the brain is

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<v Speaker 1>a is an office with drains on the floor, and

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<v Speaker 1>when everyone goes home in the evening, they just come

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<v Speaker 1>in with a fire hose and just start just just

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<v Speaker 1>just hose it completely down. It's true. Have you ever

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<v Speaker 1>seen the bathrooms that have like a shower and in

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<v Speaker 1>the toilet in the same area with as you say,

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<v Speaker 1>the drains. It's just a perfect way to kind of

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<v Speaker 1>get rid of all of the waste at the same time. Um. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean it's kind of a big deal because it

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<v Speaker 1>gives us a better idea of why humans require so

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<v Speaker 1>much sleep. Okay, it's not just refreshing or memory consolidation,

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<v Speaker 1>the removal of actual toxins from your brain, right, And

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<v Speaker 1>it's also a window into better understanding brain related diseases

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<v Speaker 1>like Alzheimer's because what they've seen at Alzheimer's pay stance

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<v Speaker 1>is that there is a build up of that beta

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<v Speaker 1>amyloid protein in the brains. So is the question, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>Morshley equals less brain disease. Possibly we don't know this yet,

0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.040
<v Speaker 1>but it is a It really is a big window

0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.920
<v Speaker 1>into this mystery of how the brain rids itself of

0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:24.520
<v Speaker 1>these toxic um byproducts. And again why sleep is so

0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:27.720
<v Speaker 1>incredibly important to our existence? Yeah, and and and again

0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.240
<v Speaker 1>I feel like, um, something we can both attest to

0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:32.720
<v Speaker 1>is the the arrival of a child in one's life

0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.920
<v Speaker 1>really drives that home for you, especially when you have

0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.520
<v Speaker 1>to to make that choice between should I say that

0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.240
<v Speaker 1>the kid is asleep, should I go to sleep too,

0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:43.480
<v Speaker 1>or should I try and stay up and carve a

0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.719
<v Speaker 1>little me time out of the remainder of the night.

0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.000
<v Speaker 1>I would find myself early on trying to do that, thinking, oh,

0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.040
<v Speaker 1>I'll just go to bed at you know, an hour

0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.680
<v Speaker 1>later and have that hour. But then you cut into

0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.199
<v Speaker 1>the amount of sleep you get, any wake up the

0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.280
<v Speaker 1>next morning when the toddler wakes up, When the child

0:13:01.280 --> 0:13:04.480
<v Speaker 1>wakes up, and uh, and and you're you're behind. It's

0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.679
<v Speaker 1>hard to catch up again. And then you find yourself,

0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.839
<v Speaker 1>just less able to process the world around you, less

0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:13.240
<v Speaker 1>able to to to tolerate even the little things to

0:13:13.320 --> 0:13:16.880
<v Speaker 1>annoy you. It's uh, it's definitely been. One of the

0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.880
<v Speaker 1>big lessons of getting older is that sleep is magnificent

0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:26.079
<v Speaker 1>and mandatory and and it's so frustrating that the children

0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.960
<v Speaker 1>don't don't understand that and don't want to sleep. They like,

0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.800
<v Speaker 1>they don't want to do it. It's the greatest thing

0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.480
<v Speaker 1>in the world. It's it's the best part of being human.

0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:34.920
<v Speaker 1>And you can pretty much do it all you want.

0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:37.199
<v Speaker 1>You can really sleep as much as you want when

0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.560
<v Speaker 1>you're when you're very young, and they inevitably don't want

0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.520
<v Speaker 1>to do it. It's the truth, because you know, babies,

0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.160
<v Speaker 1>toddlers with their clock in twelve hours or something, they

0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.360
<v Speaker 1>don't even think about it. They just pass out. And

0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.160
<v Speaker 1>then when you're a teenager, no big deal again, twenties,

0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.200
<v Speaker 1>a night of rockest drinking, you can still bound out

0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.800
<v Speaker 1>of bed, but at some point your body is going

0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:58.839
<v Speaker 1>to be like, I'm adjusting your sleep clock. Everything from

0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.560
<v Speaker 1>here on out matters. Yeah, I'm taking every second time

0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.880
<v Speaker 1>is ticking. So again we we we have to be

0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.840
<v Speaker 1>thankful for the night janitors. And I do love that

0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.839
<v Speaker 1>image of the night janitors moving in because it sounds

0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:13.360
<v Speaker 1>just a little creepy, these strange figures that that move

0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.720
<v Speaker 1>in through your brain while you're asleep, and they're they're

0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.120
<v Speaker 1>brushing away all the toxins, and it's it's a pretty

0:14:18.200 --> 0:14:21.120
<v Speaker 1>thankless job, right, And we take it for granted, right

0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:22.880
<v Speaker 1>because we think we just wake up at eight am

0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:26.040
<v Speaker 1>and the building is just happened to be cleaned overnight.

0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:28.120
<v Speaker 1>We don't know how it happened. We feel all fresh,

0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.200
<v Speaker 1>but yeah, they've been toiling away flushing out the toxins.

0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:34.560
<v Speaker 1>All right, So there you have it now. Sleep is

0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.720
<v Speaker 1>something that all of us do. So I know all

0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.600
<v Speaker 1>of our listeners out there have some little bit of

0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:44.800
<v Speaker 1>personal information to share about this this uh this idea

0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:48.400
<v Speaker 1>of the night janitors moving through our brains, clearing things out,

0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:52.800
<v Speaker 1>taking the toxins away, and indeed the mandatory nature of sleep. Uh.

0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:54.680
<v Speaker 1>So feel free to share your stories with us. What

0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.440
<v Speaker 1>has happened when you have tried to avoid sleep, or

0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:02.200
<v Speaker 1>worse yet, U you've found yourself in a vision where

0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:04.880
<v Speaker 1>you cannot get the sweep that your body needs. Yeah.

0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.760
<v Speaker 1>I read recently that Americans are getting an hour less

0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:09.960
<v Speaker 1>of sleep a night than they did something like two

0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:13.560
<v Speaker 1>decades ago, So there's definitely some sleep deprivation going on.

0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:15.600
<v Speaker 1>So you want to reach out to us, you want

0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.000
<v Speaker 1>to get in touch, well, you can find us at

0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:19.720
<v Speaker 1>the Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. That is

0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.120
<v Speaker 1>the mothership. That's our our main bigs. You'll find all

0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.040
<v Speaker 1>of our podcasts, they're all our videos, Our blog post

0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.920
<v Speaker 1>links out to our various social media accounts. And oh,

0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.800
<v Speaker 1>by the way, if you listen to us on iTunes, uh,

0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:33.800
<v Speaker 1>go in there and give us some positive feedback, a

0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:38.000
<v Speaker 1>positive review, you know, a nice helping of stars because

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.360
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0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.320
<v Speaker 1>and we can always use a boost in the algorithm

0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.440
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0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.440
<v Speaker 1>us an email, you can do so at below the

0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:56.120
<v Speaker 1>Mind at discoveries dot com for more on this and

0:15:56.160 --> 0:16:00.000
<v Speaker 1>thousands of other topics. Because it how stuff works dot com.

0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Could you d you group? Could you duor