Good to know that the brain finds a way to flush itself while awake. I think I've become pretty good at putting unused parts of my brain to sleep while awake. My brain is like that of a dolphin now.

But on rare occasions (like a couple of times a year), I get migraine auras and stuff disappears from my field of view. Can last about an hour. I feel like that's my visual cortex falling asleep.

hmm.. this is interesting... the article says "spinal fluid exits the cerebrospinal fluid (csf) flows out of the brain... I wonder where it discharges these waste products. I ask because it is believed we have a sort of chimney on our backs. I think I read this on the article of the Irish lady who could detect alzheimers years before any modern medical detection systems. But maybe it is discharged in the gut? via the mesentery, the new organ they finally named fo rthe stuff that holds our intestines together. If anyone knows where it is discharged, please comment, I'm interested in this, because I do prolong waterfasts every 3 months, and I strongly believe the brain drains waste into my mouth during that time, because the taste in my mouth is godawful, but if there are other exit points the brain discharges waste, we probably need to know about them.

anecdotally, i never feel better than when i haven't slept. spent 8pm tuesday -- 8pm thursday this week awake nursing cheap energy drinks, and not only could i manage a higher-than-usual level of focus, i was genuinely content.

bombed a midterm halfway though, but at least i felt good about it.

This is fascinating, and somewhat directly related to the work we do increasing slow-wave response during sleep.

For those who are not aware, slow-wave are the hallmark of deep sleep and closely linked to the flushing the glymphatic system, which is what they are referring to in this article.

We can't create slow-waves, but we can increase their effectiveness through precisely timed auditory stimulation. I'll be posting a Show HN next week which dives into the data of how this works, but if you want to know more, there is info on our website and links to over 50 published peer-reviewed papers. https://affectablesleep.com

This paper specifically looks at amyloid clearance as a result of this glymphatic flush https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afad228

While many people will point to "getting more sleep" that isn't really the answer. More time asleep does not automatically mean increased glymphatic flush. Additionally, as we age, the power of the pump gets weaker, and more sleep does not help with that.

We believe the focus on counting minutes of sleep misses the point of what makes sleep truly restorative and beneficial, which are the neurological processes, and downstream physiological changes as a result. This is why we talk about restorative function, and that should be the focus of sleep health, not time.

After all, you wouldn't measure your diet based on how much time you spend chewing, would you?

> For example, what you don't want to do is NOT take amphetamines at testing if you had used them to study;

Hard disagree there. If you get any anxiety during the test it's better to take it only while studying.

I can feel when this fluid hasn't properly flushed.

[This is one of those article titles that would really benefit from adding one more word.]

Could this be why SNRIs help some patients mitigate ADHD symptoms?

As a chronic undersleeper, good thing I don't drive!

Sleep is indeed important