Subject: OT? Cleaning the brain
Given the increasing prevalence of Alzheimer’s Disease this may be on-topic since the very high cost of care has a Macroeconomic impact.

Even if it’s off-topic it’s probably of interest since each of us has a brain. The brain naturally produces degraded proteins which must be removed or they will build up. Recently (2012), advances in microscopy enabled the discovery of the glymphatic system, a network of tubes in the brain that are closed during the day but open during deep sleep to flush out the brain.

Since the original discovery of the glymphatic system there has been an explosion of research interest. Scientists realized that failure of the glymphatic system can lead to the buildup of garbage in the brain leading to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/...

Neurodegenerative diseases (ND) are characterized by the accumulation of aggregated proteins. The glymphatic system, through its rapid exchange mechan…

As a practical person I just did some quick research on how to improve the deep sleep which is needed for the glymphatic system to turn on and do its job. I researched this using Perplexity AI so anyone who doesn’t like AI can skip this post.

I asked about older people because that’s relevant to myself. I decided to post here because many METARs are on the older side. :slight_smile:

Deep sleep decreases with age, dropping about 2% per decade after age 20. More fragmented sleep and earlier sleep-wake cycles are common, making it harder to achieve uninterrupted deep sleep.

The optimum amount of deep, non-REM sleep for a person over age 65 is generally about 1.5 to 2 hours per night, which corresponds to roughly 20-25% of total sleep time. Adults 65 and older typically need 7 to 8 hours of total sleep, with deep sleep being an essential restorative phase within that. Aiming for at least 1–1.5 hours of deep, non-REM sleep nightly supports cognitive, immune, and physical health in people over 70.

Aerobic exercise has shown promise in improving glymphatic function and cognitive outcomes by stimulating cerebrospinal fluid flow and vascular health. By the way, aerobic exercise is also effective in helping prevent Alzheimer’s Disease in people with the dreaded APOE4 double-allele and in slowing Parkinson’s Disease progression.

I then asked, “Do sleep aids inhibit the clearance of waste from the brain by the glymphatic system?”

Yes, sleep aids—particularly common sedative-hypnotics like zolpidem (Ambien)—can inhibit the clearing of waste from the brain by suppressing glymphatic system activity during sleep.

Alprazolam (Xanax) does not directly inhibit the glymphatic system, but it can indirectly reduce its waste clearance function by impairing natural sleep cycles. Chronic use increases these risks due to greater disruption of sleep architecture. Alprazolam is super-addictive so should never be taken routinely - it’s playing with fire.

I don’t take sleeping pills but I do use natural products to help sleep. I asked about those.

Melatonin, magnesium, and lithium orotate do not inhibit the glymphatic system’s waste clearance function; rather, evidence shows they may support or enhance it.

Supplementation with melatonin at bedtime can boost glymphatic clearance of neurotoxic proteins, making it beneficial for brain waste removal.

Magnesium indirectly supports glymphatic efficiency by promoting deeper, restorative sleep, a state in which glymphatic clearance is most active. By optimizing sleep quality, magnesium may help the brain’s waste removal processes occur more effectively, rather than inhibiting them.

Lithium, especially as lithium orotate, has been found to enhance metabolic waste clearance in the brain and may support glymphatic function by improving cellular detoxification mechanisms. This may offer protective potential against neurodegenerative conditions associated with waste buildup in the brain.

Alcohol can inhibit the brain’s glymphatic waste clearance system—but the effect is dose-dependent. Low levels of alcohol may improve glymphatic clearance, while moderate and high doses impair it. I personally drink seldom and then only about 2 ounces of sherry.

Anything that disrupts sleep (such as obstructive sleep apnea) should be treated because it can lead to malfunction of the glymphatic system as well as the well-known problems such as increased risk of stroke.

Chronic inflammation and vascular dysfunction impair glymphatic clearance as well as dangerous problems all over the body.

My Fitbit watch has motion and oxygen sensors. The app shows the pattern of sleep - light, REM and deep as well as “awake” which is usually an hour a night and is probably times of movement. It’s interesting to see the ups and downs of sleep patterns. I have always been aware of how important sleep has been to my well-being.

“Sleep hygiene” is a term used by neurologists to describe ways of getting better sleep.

https://neuropathycommons.org/...

Sleep hygiene is also “taking out the garbage” by enhancing our glymphatic system. This can (hopefully) enhance our mental acuity while aging.

Wendy