Researchers discovered remedy against insomnia

Scientists think they have discovered the switch in the brain that tells our bodies when to go to sleep, Daily Mail reports.

The discovery, made by neurologists at Oxford University, could pave the way for a treatment of insomnia.

The scientists think the switch works by regulating neurons, or nerve cells, in the brain.

Professor Gero Miesenböck, whose team 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.

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.

‘These neurons are also electrically active during sleep and, like the flies’ cells, are the targets of general anaesthetics that puts us to sleep.

‘It’s therefore likely that a molecular mechanism similar to the one we have discovered in flies also operates in humans.’

Researchers are now trying to find out how to activate the sleep switch is so that it can be used to treat insomnia.

Professor Miesenböck said there are probably two mechanisms that regulate sleep patterns.

One is the body clock, the circadian rhythm which attunes humans and animals to the 24 hour cycle of day and night.

The other - the sleep ‘homeostat’ - keeps track of waking hours and acts as a switch to make the body nod off.

Professor Miesenböck said: ‘The sleep homeostat measures how long a fly has been awake and switches on a small group of specialized cells in the brain if necessary. It’s the electrical output of these nerve cells that puts the fly to sleep.’

The researchers demonstrated their theory by removing the homeostat neurons from the brains of a group of fruit flies.

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.

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