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Published on: 7/2/2008
Last Visited: 9/24/2008
The molecules we discover will act as specific targets within the nervous system that are just related to sleep," explained Dr. Amy Kruse, Preventing Sleep Deprivation program manager at DARPA DSO.
Research at the University of Wisconsin has demonstrated that fruit flies sleep and need sleep in much the same way as humans and other mammals do.The same genes involved in regulating sleep in fruit flies are found throughout the animal kingdom and in humans as well.
In follow-on work from the fruit fly studies, DARPA research with the Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and UCLA is studying sea mammals such as dolphins and seals, which have the ability to rest half their brain at a time while they keep swimming.They regulate sleep by switching between the halves of their brain in a process called uni-hemispheric sleep."We are trying to figure out how they do it," Kruse explained.
For a few more years, special operations forces will likely continue to use nutritional supplements and the tried and tested remedies approved by the surgeon general's office."But a few years from now, we will be able to develop better molecules and better medication to help combat sleep deprivation," Kruse said.
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