A good night's rest may literally clear the mind. Using mice, researchers showed for the first time that the space between brain cells may increase during sleep, allowing the brain to flush out toxins that build up during waking hours.
The waste management system (called the glymphatic system) is a series of tubes that carry fresh fluid into the brain, mix the fresh fluid with the waste-filled fluid that surrounds the brain cells, and then flush the mix out of the brain and into the blood. This occurs primarily during deep sleep.
The scientists also reported that the glymphatic system can help remove a toxic protein called beta-amyloid from brain tissue. Beta-amyloid is renowned for accumulating in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Other research has shown that brain levels of beta-amyloid decrease during sleep.
Now, researchers at Boston University in Massachusetts have found that during sleep, the fluid present in the brain and spinal chord — called the cerebrospinal fluid — washes in and out, like waves, helping the brain get rid of accumulated metabolic “trash.”
Researchers find that your brain can flush out toxins during sleep. It is sometimes referred to as the body's toxic evaporation technique. Good sleep functions as the body's natural detox process.
When one sleeps, the brain reorganizes and recharges itself, and removes toxic waste byproducts which have accumulated throughout the day. This evidence demonstrates that sleeping can clear the brain and help maintain its normal functioning.
Detoxing from alcohol or drugs involves removing toxic substances from the body while managing the withdrawal symptoms that occur simultaneously. Detoxing typically takes three to ten days. However, a more severe addiction can extend detox by several weeks or even months.
Lungs aside, the three major organs that eliminate waste and harmful substances are the liver, kidneys and colon. Your colon, or large intestine, is like a self-cleaning oven that has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years.
For the most part, an individual can detox from substances within a week (though cravings may persist for months afterward). Some of withdrawal most serious symptoms seem nonfatal, such as vomiting and diarrhea.
Brain rewired during sleep, study in cats shows
Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that brain circuitry is modified during sleep. The finding bolsters the hypothesis that memories are made as we snooze, through a process that involves rewiring networks of nerve cells.
Sleep allows the brain and body to slow down and engage in processes of recovery, promoting better physical and mental performance the next day and over the long-term. What happens when you don't sleep is that these fundamental processes are short-circuited, affecting thinking, concentration, energy levels, and mood.
Carbon dioxide is a waste product or toxin, and we get rid of it by breathing it out. Other organs that help remove toxins include the liver, skin, kidneys, intestines, lymph nodes, and blood vessels. In addition to breathing out, we remove toxic products through urine, feces, and sweating.
As you may know, sleep is an important part of overall health. It not only influences energy levels, but it also helps every system in the body function properly, including the immune system, heart, brain and even digestive system. If you're not sleeping well, it can take a toll on your gut health in a variety of ways.
In the early stages, your body try to expel those toxins by any means necessary. You may experience diarrhea, sneezing or coughing fits, excessive urination, sore throat, heartburn, nasal congestion or runny nose (from mucus overproduction), or vomiting.
Therefore, sweat is not made up of toxins from your body, and the belief that sweat can cleanse the body is a myth. “You cannot sweat toxins out of the body,” Dr. Smith says. “Toxins such as mercury, alcohol and most drugs are eliminated by your liver, intestines or kidneys.”
Most toxins are fat soluble and end up stored in fatty tissues in our bodies like our brains, nerves, glands and yes, that extra layer around our tummies and thighs.
Your skin itself is a defense against toxins. But it doesn't move toxins out of your body in a meaningful quantity. Sweat gets rid of water, but not harmful substances. Your body has other organs and systems to help it get rid of toxins.
A new study conducted at the University of Rochester Medical Center has found that brain activity during deep, non-REM sleep is ideal for the brain's glymphatic system to “clean” itself of toxins.
The researchers measured close to 7,000 synapses in all. Their images show that synapses grew stronger and larger as these nocturnal mice scurried about at night. Then, after 6 to 8 hours of sleep during the day, those synapses shrank by about 18 percent as the brain reset for another night of activity.
Between the times of 10:00 pm and 2:00 am the body goes through a dramatic process of physical repair. Between roughly 2:00 am and 6:00 am the body will go through a process of psychological repair. A disrupted sleep pattern will cause the Cortisol to elevate and negatively affect the regenerative process.
1-3am is the time of the Liver and a time when the body should be alseep. During this time, toxins are released from the body and fresh new blood is made. If you find yourself waking during this time, you could have too much yang energy or problems with your liver or detoxification pathways.