this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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Today I Learned

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TIL we need sleep because waste products such as adenosine, which make us feel sleepy, build up while we're awake. Without sleep we die from our brain overdosing itself on its "sleeping pills" (www.buzzworthy.com)
submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by ILoveDurians@lemmy.cafe to c/til@lemmy.world
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Adenosine is a waste product of neurons and it is a potent nervous system depressant which is why if we don't sleep for a long time we hallucinate, start to feel cold, and feel tired. We feel like we're drugged because we kind of are. It also increases sleep pressure. Unlike other areas of the body the brain has no way of flushing out the adenosine unless we sleep which activates the glymphatic system. if we don't sleep the adenosine keeps accumulating and it can kill us in a similar way an od of sleeping pills can.

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[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 99 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Adenosine is not a "waste product of neurons" in the sense it's being painted. It's a byproduct of energy production in all our cells, and what it does depends on the derivative - for example adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used by the mitochondria in our cells for energy production! It then degrades into adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and from there into the CNS-depressing adenosine (or, it can be upregulated back "up the chain" by adding another phosphor to it).

As plain adenosine it can depress the central nervous system, resulting in feeling sleepy, slowing heart rate, etc, but adenosine levels are regulated closely by the body and the idea they can "build up until we die" due to lack of sleep is patently ridiculous. This article is a gross oversimplification that demonises a critical compound for no reason.

This article covers the detrimental results of adenosine overproduction in the body: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6398520/

While Wikipedia describes the compound more generally: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine

[–] Jax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 16 hours ago

Yeah I was always under the impression that lack of sleep will kill you by a heart attack.

[–] BussyGyatt@feddit.org 22 points 2 days ago

real til in the comments

[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

I think that was about eighth grade biology when I was in school along with other body chemistry basics. Very weird article.

[–] ILoveDurians@lemmy.cafe -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's referring to plain adenosine. When adenosine builds up in the brain, the only way for the brain to get rid of the accumulation of it is by sleeping because it activates the glymphatic system, where CSF is used to flush out the waste/byproducts. If you don't sleep, the adenosine continues to accumulate in the brain with nowhere to go.

[–] voracitude@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

When adenosine builds up in the brain, the only way for the brain to get rid of the accumulation of it is by sleeping

Incorrect, the body reuptakes adenosine readily as part of the respiratory cycle. In the absence of external administration, it is physically impossible to build up so much adenosine that it can kill you precisely because it is so readily downregulated to inosine by ADK, or upregulated to AMP and ATP through phosphorylation.

You might be thinking of other toxic substances that build up as part of respiration; some of those like amyloid beta plaques (once thought to play a role in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, but maybe not) are only cleared by the glymphatic system.

I recommend reading the last paragraph of your article again, as it doesn't actually say adenosine is responsible. It just says that adenosine makes you sleepy, and sleeping helps clear toxic buildup from the brain via the glymphatic system (which is true). The wording is just bad and implies adenosine is one of those toxic substances.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 58 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Really needed to learn this at 3:43am on the second day of not being able to sleep.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

No screens at all for two hours before bedtime. Hot bath and/or massage. Melatonin. That's what I suggest.

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Touching tourself continuously for height hours before sleeping help too

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The spirit is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised meme from Futurama snusnu episode

I had to type that alt text thrice because I was using my client's "generate image markdown" GUI and had problems. The first time I got it perfect, but put it in the URL field and didn't notice until I'd closed the browser tab (I'm on mobile and browse exclusively in focus mode, so the usual easy recovery wasn't an option).

Then I tried again and got it right, but I'm still adjusting to FUTO keyboard and it just randomly closed the dialogue. If that was my fault, I have no idea what I did to inspire the action.

Finally I (think I) got it right on the third try, but the story of the odyssey amuses me more than the original meme itself.

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 1 points 13 hours ago

Some much adventure for a joke

[–] BlackPenguins@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Working 9 to 5 🎶

[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Deep rhythmic breathing.

[–] cheers_queers@lemm.ee 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I once didnt sleep for 5 straight days. It was a horrible experience but you'll be okay :)

[–] Crazyslinkz@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Any hallucinations?

[–] toynbee@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

I couldn't do it as an adult, but two separate times as a kid / teenager I stayed up for 6-7 days straight.

The first time I didn't have any negative symptoms except nausea and, obviously, fatigue.

The second time I did have mild visuals starting around the fifth day. It was decades ago, so I only really remember one, which was goblin or green witch-like clawed fingers curling around my doorframe. I think I blinked hard a few times and did the stereotypical cartoon head shake and they were gone.

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Maybe I can also chime in here

Was awake with some caffeine for like 3-4 days. After that the light of the sun got a strange blueish colour and I just couldn't keep up anymore.

Years later I was routinely up for 2-3 days, but once was up for 5 days with some chemical help.
Major hallucinations with that.
Had a cleaning lady inside my apartment, which was nice.
A guy laying on my desk, that looked like the death smiling at me.

And after some time I, and a hash hot chocolate, which should have helped me to finally sleep, I had a full blown river beside my couch, separating me from my other stuff.

But nothing really troubling, just stuff that was there and could still kinda see through, that it's bullshit.

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I saw bats. Like that guy from bat country. Hunter Gatherer.

[–] xep@fedia.io 12 points 2 days ago

I hope you are able to sleep again soon.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

I spent about a year practicing sleeping. I stay by telling myself that i deserve a good night of sleep. Spend several breaths feeling my bed, pillows, covers, and getting everything as comfortable as possible. Then i spend 3 breaths relaxing each body part, feeling the weight of it sink into the bed, starting with a foot. I focus really hard on this to keep my mind from wandering. I'm usually asleep by the time i get to my knees. It took practice, but now those 4am wakeups are usually brief. The hardest part is convincing myself that i deserve good sleep and can let everything else go.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Some workings as far as I understand:

ATP adenosine tri phosphate. We use it as energy and it becomes:

ADP adenosine di phosphate. We use it as energy and it becomes:

AMP adenosine mono phosphate. We use it as energy and it becomes:

A adenosine.

*Some Gemining (is that a term?) says the interplay of AMP and ADP can be used as energy but there's other reactions too. AMP to A is primarily signaling.

[–] ramble81@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

So theoretically if there was a way to remove or “neutralize” the adenosine, you wouldn’t need to sleep? Or rather, you could go longer without sleep until something else cooked you?

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Found the billionaire CEO!

~/s~

[–] ILoveDurians@lemmy.cafe 1 points 1 day ago

Caffeine does this, but the effect is temporary. There's a rare condition called Morvan Syndrome, where there is a case of a person with it going without any sleep for 4 months, and had no cognitive impairment. Normally a person would die after 11 days. Seems like this condition messes with the inhibitory synapses so it might also mess with how adenosine affects the brain as well. 10% of cases lead to death though

[–] Septimaeus@infosec.pub 1 points 1 day ago

IIRC caffeine temporarily blocks adenosine receptors, so I think that does work up to a point.

[–] antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I’ve been awake for 8 days, no drugs, and I did not hallucinate. I did not feel close to death and I actually had tons of athletic energy. The main detrimental effect was a loss of logging short term to long term memory, like the movie memento I had to write notes.

[–] ericatty@infosec.pub 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Maybe you don't remember your hallucinations, since you didn't write them down? I'm thinking like how a lot people's memories of dreams fade.

[–] antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

No, I had plenty of doctors checking in asking about my perception.