The glymphatic system is a network in the brain that was discovered only recently and is now fast becoming an area of intensive research. It utilizes a system of perivascular channels, formed by astroglial cells. Its function seems to be clearing waste and toxins, thus functioning like a waste disposal system. It uses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to flush out potentially harmful substances and has been linked to several neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s or Parkingson’s disease as well as traumatic brain injury and stroke. Its function is suppressed in various diseases.
The glymphatic system also aids the distribution of non-waste compounds, such as glucose, lipids, amino acids, and neurotransmitters related to volume transmission, within the brain. It is active foremost during deep sleep, and involves glial cells – hence the name “glymphatic” – that help regulate fluid flow around neurons.
The glymphatic system is distinct from the lymphatic system but they share functional similarities: both are involved in waste clearance. The obvious difference is that the glymphatic system operates in the brain, while the lymphatic system is a network of vessels and nodes that drain lymph fluid from tissues into the bloodstream throughout the entire body, except for the brain. The two systems connect at the meninges where waste cleared by the glymphatic system can get drained into meningeal lymphatic vessels, which in turn transport it to peripheral lymph nodes.
As the glymphatic system is a relatively new discovery, our understanding of it and of ways to enhance its function are in their infancy and still somewhat speculative. Bearing that in mind, several ways have been suggested that might boost its function:
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Sleep: Sufficient restorative sleep seems important, as the system is most active during slow-wave sleep. It is thus advisible to maintain a regular sleep pattern and optimize your sleep by providing a dark, quiet and cool environment. Some research suggests that sleeping on your side may be preferable for optimizing glymphatic clearance compared to sleeping on your back or stomach.
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Drink: Adequate hydration supports the production of CSF and enhances its flow. This is likely to assist the function of the glymphatic system.
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Exercise: Aerobic exercise may enhance glymphatic function by promoting CSF circulation.
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Diet: Food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and low in highly processed meals are prone to boost glymphatic efficiency. Preliminary evidence indicates that intermittant fasting may boost glymphatic activity.
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Stress: Chronic stress can impair sleep and would therefore impede glymphatic function. A range of relaxation techniques may prove to be valuable in this way but, at present, no clinical trials support this hypothesis.
- Lymphatic drainage: this manual massage technique could indirectly support the glymphatic system by enhancing the overall clearance of waste from the brain and body. Yet, direct evidence linking lymphatic drainage techniques to enhanced glymphatic function is as yet not available.
As already mentioned: much of the above remains speculative and uncertain. What seems certain, however, is that we will hear much more about the glymphatic system in the near future.
WATCH THIS SPACE.
33 Responses to The ‘Glymphatic System’ and how to boost its function
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And not just from real medical science, but alas also from the SCAM world, where it will no doubt be used to sell ‘detox’ and ‘brain boost’ nostrums that are as useless as they are expensive …
sure!
I read all the way through this thinking it was something the quacks had dreamed up!
they will soon jump on the bandwaggon;
but the discovery is real.
At first I thought that maybe Edzard had taken a dose of Berlin Wall D12 and it had dissolved some mythical wall seperating him from his CAM side. Then I read that glymphatic system is distinct from lymphatic system.
However, 1-6 would form part of any CAM detox. It maybe that the public perception is that CAMists are already on the bandwagon.
Are you really using a communications device that cannot alert you to “seperating”.
Yes Pete and I dont give a flying Fcuk.
Oh yes you do.
Oh no I doughnut.
Justin Case you are interested…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doughnut_varieties
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Dessert-related_lists
JK,
Instead of yapping like a lost dog, maybe you can comment on something you seem to know – Berlin wall remedy. Please illuminate us on the mechanism of action of Berlin wall remedy. Make your case, cite studies, meta-reviews, meta-analyses, proving documents etc. Go on take it away!!
If you want to be illuminated Talker then try boosting your glymphatic system.
‘JK‘: the poster child for explanatory impotence.
Explanatory impotence is the opposite of explanatory power. It’s one of the fundaments of religion, cults, and SCAM.
Leonid Rozenblit and Frank Keil.
The misunderstood limits of folk science: an illusion of explanatory depth.
Cognitive Science. 2002 Sep 1;26(5):521–562.
doi:10.1207/s15516709cog2605_1.
PMID: 21442007; PMCID: PMC3062901.
QUOTE [my emphasis]
Laypeople rarely have to offer full explanations for most of the phenomena that they think they understand. Unlike many teachers, writers, and other professional “explainers”, laypeople rarely have cause to doubt their naïve intuitions. They believe that they can explain the world they live in fairly well. They are novices in two respects. First, they are novice “scientists” — their knowledge of most phenomena is not very deep. Second, they are novice epistemologists — their sense of the properties of knowledge itself (including how it is stored) is poor and potentially misleading.
We argue here that people’s limited knowledge and their misleading intuitive epistemology combine to create an illusion of explanatory depth (IOED). Most people feel they understand the world with far greater detail, coherence, and depth than they really do.
Pete is again talking to his pontificating self. His brain cluttered with quotes and definitions that he thinks can justify anything he says.
If Pete is not a bot then maybe a clearance of brain toxins would help. He should try boosting his glymphatic system.
See points 1-6 in the blog post.
Edzard to the rescue.
‘JK’,
Your continued inability to answer simple pertinent[1] questions speaks volumes.
If you can show that my previous comment is incorrect, using evidence…
IOW put up or shut up, you boring ignorant troll.
1. Pertinent to you and to those who research homeopathy, as I’ve needed to explain to your wilfully ignorant self.
https://edzardernst.com/2025/05/the-role-of-homeopathy-in-managing-50-common-conditions/#comment-156217
JK
I want to be illuminated by you, on the mechanism of action of Berlin wall homeopathic remedy, which you were gleefully waving around earlier. Isn’t that unclear from my previous post? Perhaps you are halfwit and lacks reading comprehension skills. It would appear that way judging by your comments on this blog post: https://edzardernst.com/2025/05/the-role-of-homeopathy-in-managing-50-common-conditions
Talker wrote
‘ Perhaps you are halfwit and lacks reading comprehension skills’
That sentence coming from you is quite amusing. I have sufficient comprehension skills to know what you mean.
Says ‘JK’, the functionally illiterate and functionally innumerate goading halfwit.
This halfwit presented the readers with the Hamre et al. 2023 paper. This halfwit couldn’t comprehend its contents; nor comprehend that even the HRI ignored one of its three important findings. But I digress, this fool couldn’t even comprehend the title of the paper.
https://edzardernst.com/2025/05/the-role-of-homeopathy-in-managing-50-common-conditions/#comment-156221
Keep it up! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Don’t get too stressed Pete.
From this blog post you can see that
‘chronic stress can impair sleep and would therefore impede glymphatic function.’
Talker asked you: what is the mechanism of action of Berlin Wall homeopathic remedy, which you were gleefully waving around earlier.
Please answer the questions that have been put to you by other commentators.
JK,
In that case, read the homeopathic proving of Berlin Wall remedy: https://qjure.com/remedy/berlin-wall/ and write a couple of paragraphs detailing what you learned from it. Then provide links to studies on how Berlin Wall remedy works.
Thats your homework for the day. Off you go!
Er no Pete. Who do you think you are? No one is going to jump when you or Talker say jump and you both must be used to this. You didnt get the Berlin wall joke.
Mechanism of action is your problem and not a problem for us homeopathees.
Ignore HRI, ignore Glymphatic system research if you like.
I am just trying to help you with the identification of future trends.
Thank you for advising that the Duckweed research is still ongoing.
You have some uses and it must be great being a pontificating complete wit.
JK,
Oh, of course—you were just joking. What a convenient way to dodge the fact that you have zero evidence to back up your bullshit claims.
All it* can do, Talker, is troll — because it’s pretending to know things it doesn’t know.
Edzard on Monday 20 February 2023 at 06:54
TROLL = “someone who leaves an intentionally annoying or offensive message on the internet, in order to upset someone or to get attention or cause trouble”
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/troll
*
https://edzardernst.com/2018/01/ethical-issues-in-alternative-medicine-we-neglect-them-at-our-peril/#comment-97925
Pete Attkins,
I have a kitten named Trollie. It likes playing with laser pointer so very much that I think it is addicted. Using the laser I can get Trollie to go wherever I want it to go. 😂
We’re way ahead of you. It’s you who didn’t get the joke,
AND YOU STILL DON’T GET IT, fool.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
😂🤣😭
One link regarding low impact was from 2018. Pete sure can use the search facility. Glad he has the time.
Homeopathic research for many years before 2018 was heavily criticised by posters on here with one factor being the publication of studies in low impact journals.
In 2018 I point out this out for an article that is liked by the same posters and suddenly ‘low impact’ does not matter!
It was just a point but seemed to hit yet another sensitive nerve for a few around at the time.
So I don’t get this. Sorry!
I do get this Glymphatic system blog post though. Does anyone else?
WTF are you smoking or popping that’s causing you to keep getting so hopelessly lost.
All you did in your previous responses is you quoted a few sentences from this blog post and mentioned the words ‘Glymphatic system’ multiple times. Therefore, we do not know what you got from this blog post. Hence describe in your own words, in a couple of paragraphs, what you got from this blog post.
You are being asked to provide evidence of your comprehension of this blog post’s content. Don’t you chicken out on me like you did before.
No. I quite the blog post bit i don’t have to explain or justify anything to you.
I am now ending this rather brainless exchange
You seem to be lost and not very interested in the blog post Pete.
Only the troll seems interested.