How Does Sleeping Cause Your Brain to Shrink?

As it turns out, sleeping isn’t just for resting our tired bodies. A full night’s sleep is essential for many of the recharging processes, both in the body and in the brain. Just as we thought that we already know all about the benefits of getting eight hours of sleep, a new research study has revealed that our brains actually shrink when we sleep, and that this helps us prepare to learn new information.

The brain is an incredibly complex organ, and its capabilities are truly astounding. While we are awake, our brains constantly process the information from our environment, make new memories and direct our actions. There are billions of cells in the brain, otherwise known as neurons.Many previous scientific studies have already shown us that sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation, and that lack of sleep can cause memory impairments. But how exactly does sleep help us retain information?

In a recent study published in the journal Scienceby researchers of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Sleep and Consciousness, scientists used a new, cutting edge technique called serial block-face scanning electron microscopy to take high resolution images of brain cells. The researchers made a surprising discovery: the synapses, or the connections between our brain cells, shrink by up to 20% during sleep [1].

During the day, we learn and makenew memories. In order for us to keep these memories, we have to make more connections in the brainand to increase the number of our synapses. According tobrain researchers, it is also necessary for the brain connections to shrink during sleep in order to reset, and to prevent overloading.Scientists call this theory “synaptic homeostasis hypothesis”. In addition, researchers believe that this type of scaling down of the brain connections helps to make room for new memories.

“Sleep is the perfect time to allow the synaptic renormalization to occur… because when we are awake, we are ‘slaves’ of the here and now, always attending some stimuli and learning something,” explained Dr. Chiara Cirelli, one of the study co-authors, in her interview with the science news website LiveScience [2]. “During sleep, we are much less preoccupied by the external world… and the brain can sample all of our synapses, and renormalize them in a smart way,” she added.

According to the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, without synaptic downsizing, the synapses would reach their maximum size and capacity and we would not be able to continue to learn and consolidate our memories to retain them.

Interestingly, it was found that only the smaller connections were decreased in size, while the bigger synapses were not affected and stayed the same. The study authors suggest that the bigger synapses are more stable and contain important memories that the brain does not want to lose.

Another study recently published in Science provided some insight into the molecular process behind the synaptic downscaling. According to the findings, the shrinking of synapses is driven by the gene called Homer1a, and that this process is important for memory consolidation [3]. In this study, researchers found that sleepiness prompts brain cells to make Homer1A protein and to send it to their synapses. Then, during sleep, Homer1A activates the mechanisms responsible for “synaptic pruning”.

So does that mean that the main purpose of sleep is to “reset” our brains and prepare them for the next day? According to scientific studies, there are many important changes that take place both in our bodies and in our brains that occur during sleep.For example, people who are chronically sleep deprived are more likely to suffer from elevated blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and depression; moreover, they have a higher risk for heart disease and stroke [4].

In his interview with New York Times, Dr. Markus H. Schmidt, another sleep researcher at the Ohio Sleep Medicine Institute, proposed that the shrinking of synapses is not necessarily the main reason that sleep exists. Referring to the new studies on synaptic downscaling, he said: “This work is great, but the question is, is this a function of sleep or is it the function?” [5].

A groundbreaking study published in 2013 has already shown us that as we sleep, the brain washes away waste and toxins that are built up during the day [6]. In this study, scientists found that some types of cells in the brain also shrink during sleep, allowing the spaces between cells to grow bigger. This allows more fluid to be pumped between brain cells, and to wash away more toxins.

In any case, we can conclude that sleep is an essential process that is important for learning and memory. In addition, the new studies help to explain why a lack of sleep can impair our memory and cognitive processes the next day: without shrinking during sleep, the synapses could not make room for new information

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