Great to have you guys here at Curiosity Daily from Discovery, the best place to get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Nate.

Welcome back everyone.

We are so excited to have you here. My name is Gally.

Today you'll learn about how sleep isn't the brain detoxifier we thought it was.

A new glass made out of bamboo and the connection between leprosy and red squirrels in medieval England.

Let's get into it.

Sleep is one of those miraculous mysteries of nature and the subject of human imagination,

lore, and myth for thousands of years.

It's also been the focus on endless research because on one hand, losing consciousness leaves us incredibly vulnerable.

But on the other hand, sleep is among the most primary

drivers of biological functioning. Like if we don't sleep we don't function.

Right, and it's not just the fact that we lose consciousness that's so fascinating, it's also what happens when we sleep.

I mean, study after study has found that we do a ton of our processing while we sleep,

our brain resets, when we flush out stress and come to terms with the anxieties of the day.

And also as I understand it, sleep even helps detoxify the brain.

Well, all of that is totally right, except your last point.

So sleep doesn't help detoxify the brain? I thought that one was just

common knowledge. It was until a new study was published in the journal Nature

Neuroscience. Wow, okay there is so much research on how great sleep is for the brain.

In fact, how essential it is for our normal mental and physical functioning.

You rarely hear research that explains why it's not good.

...