Scientists find switch which makes us sleep
India Today Online
February 20, 2014 | UPDATED 14:45 IST
The discovery, made by neurologists at Oxford University, could pave the way for a treatment to cure insomnia and other sleep disorders.
According to a news report published in Daily Mail, the scientists think the switch, described as 'homeostat' which can tell when someone has been awake for too many hours, works by regulating neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain.
The mechanism comes to life when the body is tired.
Professor Gero Miesenbock, the head of the team which conducted the research, said, "When you're tired, these neurons in the brain shout loud and they send you to sleep."
The researchers demonstrated the theory on fruit flies, removing the switch to create insomniac insects. They found the insects without the relevant neurons did not have regular sleep - they turned into insomniacs and were prone to nodding off at irregular hours. They had severe learning and memory deficits, in the same way that sleep loss in humans leads to problems.
The researchers are convinced the same molecular system which forces neurons to fire works in the human brain.
Dr Jeffrey Donlea, who co-authored the study in the journal Neuron, added, "There is a similar group of neurons in a region of the human brain."
Researchers are now trying to find out how to activate the sleep switch is so that it can be used to treat insomnia.