Here’s the article I’d brought up in today’s meeting, as well as a review of it in less-physiological terms. It proposes a role of sleep as clearing out metabolites and other cellular waste in a system similar to the lymphatic system, with sleep opening up channels between neurons and allowing CSF to ‘flush out’ the brain. I consider this as a pretty good description for the physiological role of sleep, as well as suggesting some of the mechanisms through which sleep deprivation causes harm.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/373
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/301.full
I find this good as an article that focuses on explaining how sleep is beneficial, instead of simply noting the effects of sleep / a lack of sleep. The neurotoxin β-amyloid (which is is believed to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease) is suggested as one of the particular proteins that CSF ‘flushes out’ during sleep, and I think this may relate to the role of sleep in memory consolidation.
While Xie et al.’s study doesn’t delve into the psychological aspects of sleep, I think it gives a good physiological explanation of its importance, so it could guide further reading for the study I plan to run on screen colour temperature and sleep.
