Media Watch: Inc. Magazine Embraces Sleep

As an old school business media stalwart, Inc. Magazine has long sung the praises of entrepreneurs who launch start-ups with little regard to proper sleep. Elon Musk famously declared that his sleep was “almost nonexistent” before upping his slumber tally to five or six hours in recent years.

Fast forward to May 2024 and Inc. is mining sleep-related academic studies and declaring, “Yet another study suggests sleep clears toxic gunk from our brains.” The article by Jessica Stillman cites a new Gallup Survey showing that more than half of Americans don’t get enough sleep.

Stillman researched the topic, ending up on an academic study in Nature. The recently published article titled "Neuronal dynamics direct cerebrospinal fluid perfusion and brain clearance" the praises of sleep and its ability to clear that so-called toxic gunk.

Researchers in Nature put it this way: Notably, synthesized waves generated through transcranial optogenetic stimulation substantially potentiated cerebrospinal fluid-to-interstitial fluid perfusion. Our study demonstrates that neurons serve as master organizers for brain clearance. This fundamental principle introduces a new theoretical framework for the functioning of macroscopic brain waves.

Li-Feng Jiang-Xie, the first author of the study, simplified the wording in Inc., stating that: "We think the brain-cleaning process is similar to washing dishes. A particular pattern of brain waves, available to us only when we sleep, is the brain's sponge, scrubbing out the gross gunk that builds up when we're awake. What exactly is this grime our brains are trying to clean out? Bits of broken-down protein and other waste products that have been linked to diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, in which excess waste accumulates in the brain and leads to neurodegeneration."

Source: Inc Magazine