Certain types of brain cells are responsible for telling the body when it is time to doze off in bed at night, and when it is time to be awake, new research has found. Carried out by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), the study revealed that the cells respond to bright light by creating a substance that keeps a person awake. Darkness, on the other hand, is responsible for making an individual feel sleepy, which explains why some people invest in eye masks and other light-reducing measures. Senior author Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour at UCLA, revealed that the release of hypocretin helps regulate the sleep-wake cycle. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the study also claimed that a lack of production of hypocretin can lead to sleep disorders, as well as encourage the onset of Parkinson's disease.
No comments:
Post a Comment