
How Sleep Clears the Brain - graeham
http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/october2013/10282013clear.htm
======
tokenadult
This press release from two months ago resulted in BBC reporting that was
extensively discussed here on HN back then.[1] (I remember this because I had
a good night's sleep last night.) As usual for news stories about science
discoveries, this is a report of a preliminary primary research finding that
may or may not be replicated and extended into the framework of an overall
theory of human sleep. The science news cycle gives a crucial role to press
releases like the release kindly submitted here,[2] so all of us who sleep
will look forward to further research studies to confirm or disconfirm this
preliminary finding and help us understand how this mouse study relates to
human behavior.

The obligatory link for any discussion of a report on a preliminary research
result is the article "Warning Signs in Experimental Design and
Interpretation"[3] by Peter Norvig, director of research at Google, on how to
interpret scientific research. Considering carefully how the current research
was done (after a good night's sleep, of course) may help suggest further
research that will advance our understanding of what sleep is good for.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6567966](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6567966)

[2]
[http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1174)

[3] [http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html](http://norvig.com/experiment-
design.html)

~~~
DigitalJack
Maybe this already exists, bit I see a startup opportunity for tagging a study
as "of interest" and having a site build a portfolio of information related to
that study and finding new studies. Feedback could be given on the relevance
of returned results.

Something like the app flipboard but have it contain dedicated
magazines/journals that gather up and continually build out.

Rather than just be a social media stream.

------
dsego
Not sure what it is with me, but if have no daily obligations and don't force
my self to go to sleep at night, I always end up reversing my sleep schedule.
Been that way even through high-school, summer vacation comes and I'm there
watching tv or playing video games until 5-6am and then I crash and wake up
for lunch at 1-2pm. Somehow, the peacefulness of the night is soothing, even
my mind seams clearer. Also, sometimes my mind is racing, and I won't go to
sleep even if my body is tired. Usually, at that time before crashing, I feel
so close to having all the answers.

~~~
stephth
I used to behave like this, would go to bed between 2 and 5, despite not
liking the consequences (shortened daylight time, city noise while I slept in,
being out of sync with others). I think I've gradually fixed it. Still working
on being more regular, but these days I'm able to fall asleep at 10h30. Here's
what I think helped me personally:

\- learning about mindfulness (useful to stop/slow down the intense flow of
thoughts. I recommend reading/listening to The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle)

\- 500 mcg of melatonin at the end of dinner. (the chewable ones sold at
Trader Joe's work for me) Required read:
[http://www.gwern.net/Melatonin](http://www.gwern.net/Melatonin)

During the transition, some days I may have forced myself to get up a little
earlier so that I would go to bed earlier, it helped but I avoided doing this
too often because it could affect my abilities for days. You want to sleep as
much as you need but still go to bed at a reasonable time, not sleep deprive
yourself to sleep. Setting your clock is a gradual thing. Maybe you can try to
go to bed 15 min earlier every day.

EDIT: I'm not a doctor, and I didn't get help from a doctor for this. Take
this advice at your own risk. But if you do get help from a doctor and you're
offered a prescription for sleeping pills, please remember there may be
healthier alternatives.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I think exercising helped me too. If you're not
exercising because you can't find the time, you could - like me - start here:
[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-mi...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-
scientific-7-minute-workout)

~~~
dsego
Being phsyically exhausted certainly helps. I was into hiking and spelunking
and somehow in the mountains there is no need for an alarm clock, the sunrise
just wakes you up. Also, there's a lack of stress and anxiety about work or
what tomorrow holds, you sort of live in the now.

------
parasight
Sleep works wonders. Sometimes dozing off for 20 minutes after lunch feels
like a whole night of sleep to me. It's like a hardware reset.

~~~
JTon
I've heard this before and it's simply amazing to me. I've never been a
napper, and I'm envious

------
johnohara
I know this is OT, and it's not caused by sleep deprivation, but does anyone
know what NIH uses to generate their site. It seems simple and straightforward
on the surface but a look at the source reveals it to be tight, templated, and
well organized. Seems well designed and executed.

~~~
CitizenKane
It looks like this section of their site is generated using Dreamweaver
templates.

Actually, cool to see that they're using Crazy Egg for clickmaps of their
site. Seems like government websites often lack the usability factor.

~~~
johnohara
Thanks. Kudos to the design and development team. Nice work.

------
hakanderyal
We need more research on sleep, to be able to further improve the 33% of our
life (assuming 8 hours of sleep).

While ideas like polyphasic sleep are cool to tinker with, the long term risks
are too high IMO to 'experiment' as we know so little about sleep.

~~~
epaladin
I'd not mind doing some self-experimentation with sleep, but I have a hard
time drawing a line with when to stop and try to evaluate what the effect was.
Changes might be so gradual as to not really being able to tell ("do I feel
better now than before?"). I wish there were more objective measures for this
sort of thing that didn't require a sizeable study population to be reliable.
I guess we need more biomarkers for... sleep health?

------
Raphmedia
And I only slept 3 hours tonight. However, I've came to master my sleep
cycles. Had I slept 3.5 or 5 hours, I would be dead tired right now. I wonder
if it's long enough for the brain to clears itself. I tend to sleep only a few
hours all month, then I get tired once a month and sleep for around 12 to 14
hours and feel good for the next 30 days or so.

I'm probably killing myself. Or perhaps I've found the perfect sleep schedule
for me.

~~~
Cacti
If you slept "a few hours per month" you'd be dead.

~~~
contextual
In one of Michel Jouvet's[1] experiments for developing the drug modifinil, he
deprived cats of sleep until they drowned in a vat of water. On average, the
cats managed to survive 35 days with only micro-sleep[2].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Jouvet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Jouvet)

[2] [http://psychology4a.com/sleep8.htm](http://psychology4a.com/sleep8.htm)

~~~
DigitalJack
That is very cruel.

~~~
enraged_camel
It's so cruel I thought he was joking. Seriously, depriving cats of sleep
until they drown? Good god...

------
mililani
I wonder how this works for people who have stayed up for multiple days at a
time. I know of people who have underwent sleep deprivation studies for over
several days. The current record, I think, is 2 weeks. Personally, I have
stayed up 3 nights in a row once to study for a chemistry exam. I've had great
mental clarity and focus during the entire time. Yes, it was harder to do than
fully rested. But, I have often found that I do better under pressure anyways.

By the way, I also ended up getting the highest score on the exam and in the
class. It was a brutal chemistry course. Only two of us got A's, and the other
guy got an A-.

~~~
shin_lao
Did you use any kind of drugs?

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sshThis
This is really cool, and surprisingly similar to the way some software systems
are designed. Probably because I have been researching it a lot, but this
reminds me of a data replication system, where data builds and builds during
active periods of the day, and then at night when activity slows, the back
logs are processed and cleared by morning.

------
kailuowang
No wonder that, very often, solutions to problems I struggled all day just pop
up in the shower next morning.

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yawz
So, we have a choice! We need to be asleep or anaesthetised.

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pcunite
I don't visit .GOV websites anymore. I'm sure the article was interesting.

