People and animals share a sleep-wake mechanism?

Through mathematics to reproduce different sleep control mechanisms in many animals, a group of scientists has shown that the nervous system that controls the sleep-wake cycle in humans is only similar to Sleep patterns of 17 other mammal species while still largely unknown.

The finding is the result of an elaborate study by a team of scientists from the Obstetrics Hospital and Brigham (BWH) at Harvard University, the University of Sydney and the Center for Sleep Research (Australia). The work is published in the June issue of PLoS Computational Biology.

The research team leader Andrew Phillips said the findings suggest that although mammal sleep is significantly different from expression, from dolphins to half a brain to rodents only eyes many times, but all have the same origin, this sleep mechanism is very flexible and preserved revolutionary.

For decades, researchers have argued that sleep regulation is closely related to the structure of the brain but to what scientists discovered in this study, the control mechanism. sleep is only available in some species in nature.

However, up to now, people have not been able to explain thoroughly that the physical factors are common to all mammals, especially the differences between species in the body. sleep control

Using a sophisticated mathematical model, the researchers also gave a deeper insight into why the forms of sleep in animals are so diverse. For example, this model explains why some animals (like dolphins or seals) only sleep with half a brain while the other half is still active.

Currently the authors of this study are continuing to conduct more thorough research on whether mammals share the same sleep-wake mechanism to get a clearer view of a periodic mechanism. The magic of this creation.