Dr. Jeffrey GladdenFounder & CEO of Gladden Longevity

Transformative Therapies in Regenerative Medicine

17 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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In this excerpt, Dr. Jeffrey Gladden explains that the brain’s lymphatic (glymphatic) drainage system, discovered roughly 7–8 years ago, is crucial for clearing toxins during slow‑wave sleep, especially when the right cheek rests on a pillow. He notes that hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been shown to enhance this drainage, which could help mitigate the buildup of neurotoxic waste that accelerates neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Gladden suggests that hyperbaric therapy may be useful not only for treating acute brain injuries like concussions but also as a preventative strategy for individuals at risk of future neurological dysregulation.

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Lymphatic drainage, it turns out, was discovered in the brain a few years ago, maybe about 7 or 8 years ago now, as being very important for draining toxins out of the brain. And it occurs at night while we're sleeping in slow-wave sleep, and in particular when our right cheek is on the pillow, interestingly enough. But it turns out that hyperbaric therapy has been shown to actually increase lymphatic drainage, which is kind of a cool thing. And sometimes the accumulation of those toxins in the brain can, what shall we say, they can facilitate, accelerate neurodegenerative disorders, whether it's dementia or Parkinson's or something else. So there's a role for this also in sort of not only treating somebody, let's say, with a concussion or something like that, but also a role for it in preventative therapy for people that might be predisposed to some sort of neurological, uh, you know, dysregulation down the line.