The brain sends neurons all over your body telling it that you need sleep. Once, you do fall asleep these neurons turn off--like a switch.
Dr. Jeffrey Donlea says that "there are a similar group of neurons in the brain that are the targets of anesthetics that put us to sleep." By pinpointing these neurons in each person's brain, this can help create medication for those suffering from a sleeping disorder
These Oxford scientists did a study on fruit flies and their sleep patterns and discovered that they have the same kind of neurons that humans have that tell them to sleep. This discovery brought up the question of why animals and humans need to sleep at all. Sure, you need to rest up, but why do we need to rest at all?
Read more about this topic here:
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/02/19/scientists_identify_the_switch_that_says_its_time_to_sleep.html
NOS Themes:
- Science is based on evidence
- Role of motivation and curiosity
This is actually a pretty interesting article. It got me thinking about sleep patterns in general, and i actually saw an interesting article talking about weird animal sleep patterns explaining things like why gorillas make their beds before they sleep, and if octopi dream. If you want to read any more on that you can find the article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2564657/A-unique-new-BBC-experiment-animal-sleeping-patterns-aims-out.html
ReplyDeleteWhen these neurons are sent out do they affect your brain if you fight against the desire to go to sleep? I know that there are many times that I fight against the desire to sleep to finish my homework at night or because I am out somewhere, do the neurons stop sending after sometime or does your brain keep sending them out until you give in and fall asleep?
ReplyDeleteI found another article about this "sleep switch" that was in your article
http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridaineparnell/2014/02/21/sleep-switch-find-brings-scientists-closer-to-solving-the-mystery-of-why-we-sleep-at-all/