Damian Sendler: Humans and other animals with a neurological system require sleep. We spend one-third of our lives asleep. 

Damian Sendler

Good health and survival depend on getting the right quantity of sleep at the right time. Getting some shut-eye can have a profound effect on the body’s functions. 

Damian Jacob Sendler: Memory and learning are dependent on the establishment and maintenance of neural connections in the brain. This includes the heart and lungs, as well as the immune system and metabolic processes and disease defenses, which are all supported by adequate sleep. 

Chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and depression are more likely to develop if you don’t get enough sleep. For example, circadian rhythm and sleep-wake homeostasis affect the time, length, and quality of sleep. 

Sleep, temperature, hormone release, and metabolism all follow 24-hour cycles that are occasionally synchronized with external stimuli, such as light. You get exhausted when you’re sleep-deprived, and that tiredness builds until you finally fall asleep. 

The slumbering habits of humans 

Dependent on age, Trusted Source ranges from 14–17 hours for a newborn to 7–or-more hours every night for an adult. The amount of time it takes for a species to go asleep varies greatly, from just two hours for elephants to 17 hours for owl monkeys. 

There is preliminary evidence that DNA damage to neurons or “DNA breaks” build during waking periods, with repair occurring during sleep. We still don’t know how sleep-wake balance is maintained in the body. 

Sleep-wake homeostasis and DNA repair have been studied in zebrafish larvae, which encouraged researchers to conduct a series of experiments. 

Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: Researchers at Bar-Ilan University noted in an MNT interview that DNA damage is caused by normal processes connected to nerve activity, such as thinking, which is why the study’s co-author Prof. Lior Appelbaum is concerned. 

Dr. Sendler: It’s interesting from an evolutionary standpoint because we’re at risk while we’re asleep, says Professor Appelbaum. In order for sleep to occur, there must be a “price” to pay during the day: ‘Why do we sleep?’ and ‘Why are we tired?’ were the first questions we asked ourselves.” Is there a price to be paid for staying awake? 

Damian Jacob Sendler

Zebrafish were chosen because they are transparent, amenable to genetic manipulation, and they are still vertebrates, which means their brains are similar to those of mammals or even humans in terms of structure and function. […] It was an important breakthrough to be able to see repair protein in the cell when the fish is still alive or asleep or awake and watch its activity. 

The zebrafish larvae are diurnal, which means they are awake and sleeping during the day, just like mammals. For DNA repair, scientists first determined the quantity of sleep needed to alleviate weariness, or homeostatic sleep pressure. 

“What is the optimal amount of time that a fish needs to sleep in order to repair their DNA?” Prof. Appelbaum explained. The scientists were curious about this. 

Damien Sendler: A minimum of six hours of uninterrupted sleep was required to lessen the zebrafish larvae’s homeostatic pressure, according to the researchers. Zebrafish larvae were then tested to see how many hours of sleep they would require to return to normal levels of DNA damage. 

The zebrafish larvae were able to repair DNA damage that had occurred while they were awake in just six hours. They remained to sleep even after they were exposed to sunshine when they had slept fewer than six hours. 

These findings imply that the amount of sleep required to overcome weariness is determined by the amount of neuronal DNA damage. 

Zebrafish larvae were then damaged in separate tests by increasing nerve activity and exposing the larvae to UV light, which triggered DNA damage. 

DNA damage generated by UV radiation and nerve stimulation in the zebrafish larvae was discovered to put them to sleep, confirming the researchers’ original theory. The activity of repair pathways and chromosomal dynamicsTrusted Source was found to increase during sleep as a result of DNA damage. 

Zebrafish larvae were put to sleep when repair pathways and chromosomal dynamics were chronically blocked. In order to better understand the role of a repair protein called PARP1 in zebrafish larvae and mice, the researchers conducted studies. 

In the words of Dr. Appelbaum, PARP1 is a “DNA damage detector [that] functions like an antenna.” Whenever you have enough PARP1 in your system, it encourages sleep behavior, and then during sleep the repair system, [so] you can start the new day with a baseline amount of DNA damage,” he says. 

PARP1 amplification in zebrafish larvae increased sleep and neuronal DNA repair, according to the researchers. The opposite happened in zebrafish larvae when scientists deactivated PARP1. This resulted in a lack of DNA repair and alertness. 

PARP1 was blocked in adult mice and their sleep habits were tracked to support the findings. It was found that the intensity of non-REM sleep decreased. 

“As with most DNA studies or genetic studies, as a clinician, it’s hard to see what any kind of clinical impact this study [would] have,” said Dr. Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, CA. 

“From the test tube to the world, from in vitro to in vivo, it would be difficult,” he said. A person’s DNA would have to be damaged throughout the day so that you can observe if they sleep better at night.” 

Neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease may be connected to sleep abnormalities, and Dr. Segil acknowledged that further research in people may be possible.

Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.