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.
I literally just learned about the glymphatic system earlier today. Apparently it’s only been known for the last couple decades, so it hasn’t been studied all that much compared to other brain topics. This video talks about how it flushes out waste products through our cerebrospinal fluid, and ways to make this work better. Main things are exercise and hydration, but there’s lots of other interesting info. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBA8_c6HLR0