If you have already heard about it, but you don’t know exactly how a “sleep-switch” works, you should read this article!
The researchers of the Oxford University have identified the switch that “tells” to our organism when it’s time to rest our body and mind.
“When you’re tired, neurons in the brain indicate us that it’s time to sleep!” says Prof. Gero Miesenböck of the Oxford University.
The Experiment On Fruit Flies
The experiment was developed and carried out by the researchers analyzing the fruit fly called “Drosophila”.
The 2 Mechanisms of Our Body
Our body uses 2 mechanisms to control our sleep.
- The first one is the “body clock” that regulates humans and animals on the 24-hours sleep-awake cycle.
- The second one keeps track of how many hours we are awake and send us a signal when we need to rest. This mechanism seems to be not influenced by external factors.
During the experiment with the fruit flies the researchers were able to identify the molecular component of the electrical activity, as known as the “switch” of the second mechanism, which would be able to take effect on some nervous molecules.
These molecules are able to switch on itself when our organism needs to sleep and to regenerate, and then to switch off when we wake up.
Why These Molecules Control Our Brain When We Are Awake?
This is the question to which the researchers are trying to give an answer, that probably will help us to cure the most common sleep disorders. However, it’s certain that having proper sleep habits and an healthy life style is beneficial to the proper functioning of this “switch”.
What? Can’t You Find Your Sleep-Switch?
Probably you are sleeping on a wrong mattress, that don’t fit your physical characteristics, find out now the mattress, pillow and bed base retailer closest to you and switch on your “healthy sleep-switch”!
