The Neurolymphatic System and Dreaming: A New Hypothesis on the True Importance of REM Sleep and Disparities in Sleep Requirements Between Individuals and Species

Until recently, scientists believed that the brain had no lymphatic system and that dreaming was simply some sort of mystery, perhaps a method for enhancing memory consolidation. This was a notion that was rooted in the fact that dreams often are inspired by events of the prior day. However, now that it is understood that the brain does, in fact, have a lymphatic system, albeit one that functions differently from the body’s primary lymphatic system, we can conclude that the function of sleep is most likely to give the brain a chance to dissipate waste chemicals that results from normal function throughout the day.

The human mind as well as all mammalian brains use hundreds of different neurotransmitters to perform functions like signaling, memory formation, and memory recall. These chemicals each have a counterpart designed to destroy the chemical transmitter once it has performed its task. It is known that if this process of annihilating the neurotransmitters is interfered with, the result is death within minutes as in the case of cholinesterase inhibitors such as VX and Novichok. Even when the brain’s process for annihilating primary transmitters is functioning nominally, there are chemical byproducts of the reaction between the transmitters and the esterases meant to eliminate them. Throughout the day, these chemicals accumulate to the point where they begin to disrupt the normal functioning. When this occurs, the brain can detect this dysfunction and responds with melatonin to slow brain function.