At the Howard Hughes Medical Institute last month, researchers released these interesting findings about sleep:
http://www.hhmi.org/news/sehgal20080717.html
It seems there’s a gene responsible for sleep regulation and having it knocked out makes fruit flies sleep eighty percent less if at all. The downside? It shortens their lives by a lot. The researches have dubbed the gene SLEEPLESS and are hoping to find a similar one in humans as well as more info about how sleep regulation works in all animals.
As a sometimes insomniac, this information really hits home. It could lead to real treatments for a lack of sleep instead of just the “maybe” treatments like the over the counter aids on the market today.
It could also be used to help treat Fatal Familial Insomnia, a very rare (28 families have it world wide) and inherited prion disease that causes gradually worsening insomnia, eventually leading to dementia and death. This recent research into FFI makes me think twice about the people in my article People Who Don’t Need Sleep.
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