Sleep Is Good For You

I love things like this, on a couple of levels: first, these are studies that confirm what we already knew, which is nice. I like it even better when they don't, but you take what you can get.

Second, I like it when they show how what we already knew actually works.

The latest work, led by scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center, adds fresh evidence to a long-standing view: When we close our eyes, our brains go on a cleaning spree.

The team previously found a plumbing network in mouse brains that flushes out cellular waste. For the new study, the scientists injected the brains of mice with beta-amyloid, a substance that builds up in Alzheimer's disease, and followed its movement. They determined that it was removed faster from the brains of sleeping mice than awake mice.

The team also noticed that brain cells tend to shrink during sleep, which widens the space between the cells. This allows waste to pass through that space more easily.

Housecleaning, painlessly. I love it.