Sleeping Shrinks the Brain … and That's a Good Thing
By Christopher Wanjek | February 2, 2017 02:37pm ET
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Sleeping Shrinks the Brain … and That's a Good Thing
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Ah, to sleep, perchance … to shrink your neural connections? That's the conclusion of new research that examined subtle changes in the brain during sleep.
The researchers found that sleep provides a time when the brain's synapses — the connections among neurons — shrink back by nearly 20 percent. During this time, the synapses rest and prepare for the next day, when they will grow stronger while receiving new input — that is, learning new things, the researchers said.
Without this reset, known as "synaptic homeostasis," synapses could become overloaded and burned out, like an electrical outlet with too many appliances plugged in to it, the scientists said.
http://www.livescience.com/57740-sleeping-shrinks-brain-synapses.html
