The Quiet Mind Lesson 6 of 6 · Rest
Sleep Is How You Begin Again
In deep sleep, slow waves of fluid wash through the brain. Scientists think this may help clear away the day.
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- A 2019 study watched cerebrospinal fluid pulse through the brains of 13 sleeping adults
- The waves followed slow brain waves in deep, non-REM sleep
- The study did not measure waste clearance, so "cleaning" is still a hypothesis
Tonight, put your phone down 30 minutes before bed.
Read the transcript
It's easy to think sleep is time you lose.
One more video.
One more hour.
One more thing to finish.
But while you sleep, your brain is still working.
In deep sleep, slow waves of fluid wash through your brain.
Scientists think this helps clear away the day.
So you can meet the morning as someone new.
Tonight, put the phone down a little earlier.
Sleep isn't time you lose.
It's how you begin again.
Tonight: phone down 30 minutes before bed.
- Fultz et al. (2019), "Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep", Science
- Neuroscience News: "Are we brainwashed during sleep?"
Every number in the film is checked against these sources. Diagrams are simplified, and charts marked "schematic" show the shape of a finding, not its exact values.