Sleep, the one thing we all need and want but the bed is only comfortable during the middle of the day. However, while we know sleep is important for the human body, the scientific reason for this is still a mystery but a research group in Tokyo might have brought us a bit closer to the truth.
Professor Hiroki Ueda at the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Tokyo led a team to figure out what exactly causes mammals to sleep and wake up. In there research, they found three enzyme groups that held the answers they were looking for. The first was protein kinase A, PKA, that was observed to be responsible for wakefulness. PKA is activated by a cyclic AMP and when activated promotes kinase activity while inhibiting enzyme activity. This inhibited enzyme activity belongs to the next two enzymes, protein phosphatase 1, PP1, and calcineurin, both responsible for sleep. Both of these enzymes work with dephosphorylation and deactivate certain functions that result in sleepiness. These three enzymes were also observed to be competitive which explains why we eventually go to sleep.
This is only a part of a greater puzzle since we still don't know how PP1 and calcineurin start dephosphorylation and how competitive these two are with PKA and I am kind of glad that it is. The more I learn about the human body and all of its ins and outs, the line between human and computer begins to thin. However, the thing that has always kept that line there was always the brain, or mind, and how it is unpredictable. While it would be interesting to know how sleep works and its reason for our bodies, I think I can sleep happy without that knowledge, provided its the middle of the day. That's a question we should answer, why does a nap feel so much better than an actual night sleep.
This study is so interesting! This article seems like researchers have taken a large step in understanding sleep and the biological aspects of it. To me, it is fascinating that sleeping is controlled and regulated by such a complicated and involved biological process. Sleep is so important to our health and this article is able to offer some mechanisms that have to do with our sleep!
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