Sleep and Consciousness

Synaptic Homeostasis Hypothesis Gets Visual Supporting Evidence

 James Anderson  February 3, 2017

Our synapses grow strong and large during the stimulation of daytime, then shrink by nearly 20 percent while we sleep, creating room for more growth and learning the next day. This is the implication of recent electron microscope pictures from inside the brains of mice.

The four-year research project offers a direct visual proof of the “synaptic homeostasis hypothesis” (SHY) proposed by Drs. Chiara Cirelli and Giulio Tononi of the Wisconsin Center for Sleep and Consciousness.

This hypothesis holds that sleep is the price we pay for brains that are plastic and able to keep learning new things./.../