Sleeping well is fundamental: a good night of sleep is associated with a stronger immune system, a healthier heart and a brain that works better; On the contrary, resting too many hours is the cause (among others) of obesity, migraine and lack of sexual desire in the short term, and neurodegenerative diseases and early term dementia.
Resorting to the help of drugs to let us go to Morfeo’s arms, however, may not be a good idea: according to a study conducted on mice and published on Cell Zolpidem, a drug used to combat insomnia whose active ingredient is present in most sleeping pills on the market, would prevent the brain from cleaning up from toxins during the night.
Night cleaning. When we sleep, in particular during the deep sleep phase called Nrem, the so -called is activated glinfatic system: In the cerebral blood vessels a liquid flows called cerebrospinal fluid, which cleans the mind from the toxins accumulated during the day. Observing the brain of seven mice, scholars have discovered that when the levels of a specific molecule called norepinephrine (or norepinephrine) the brain -blooded vessels increase, decreasing the volume of blood that flows and allowing the cerebrospinal fluid to pass into the brain; On the contrary, when the levels of norepinephrine decrease the blood vessels expand, rejecting the cerebrospinal fluid.
Less restaurateur sleep. To understand what effects the sleeping pies had on this process, scholars therefore administered the sulpidem to six mice. After rapid asleep, the brain of the mice helped by the sleeping pill “has not been cleaned up so well”, explains Maiken Nedergaard, one of the authors. Compared to the control group The flow of the cerebrospinal fluid fell on average by approximately 30%because the zolpidem has inhibited the production of norepinefrine.
Although it is premature to say whether these results can also apply to humans, according to Laura Lewis del Mit it is likely that at least Some of these mechanisms also apply to usgiven that the cerebral circuit of mice studied in this research is equal to the human one. If this link between sleep pills and sleep quality should be confirmed, we will have to develop new sedative-hypnotic drugs that do not interfere with the glinfatic system: “the risk”, concludes Nedergaard, “is to worsen the sleep problems and the health of the brain”.
