Argentine scientists prove in Antarctica that siesta is good

With temperatures ranging from -30 ° C to -40 ° C and storms up to 200 kilometers at the time of the sun, when the sun goes down and the polar night goes down.
the general basis Belgrano II, 1300 kilometers away
South PoleOne might badume that the daring who face such isolation must sleep a large part of the day. However, a work of
Argentine scientists which has just been published in
Scientific reports provides a more detailed and, in some ways, unexpected picture of what is happening with
sleep cycles and watch on
these extreme environments.

According to the results obtained, the greenhouses of the southernmost Argentinean scientific stations on the white continent sleep in the middle of the polar night for about an hour less, but compensate this hour by a longer and better nap. According to specialists, these findings answer a rather old question: whether the nap is part of the sleep / wake cycle of humans. Everything indicates that yes, they answer, and that the settlement of our chronic sleep debt is a very valuable resource.

"We were surprised to find that the endowment slept significantly less during the winter months," says Diego Golombek, director of the Chronobiology Lab at the University of Quilmes and one of the authors of the 39; study. "Do not expect variations because it respects a work routine (the light turns on at one o'clock, it goes off at another, they have already set tasks.) However, it The photoperiod seems to have a significant influence that causes a seasonal variation in the sleep cycle less and compensates for a longer and more "effective" nap, ie "that pays more".

"The overwintering was going to go down an hour later than the time they had arrived – details Daniel Vigo, Biomedical Research Laboratory, UCA and Conicet, and last author of the book. This is because they lose the bright references of our internal clock, which is synchronized in 24 hours.When not seeing the sunlight, the cycles tend to be delayed a bit each day. is not noticed in all its fullness because in the morning they got up at the same time to work and that it works like a synchronizer, but they were a little more sleepy during the day and then prolonged their naps. " case, they doubled their duration

The person responsible for taking the measures was Agustín Folgueira, then a clinician doctor at the Central Military Hospital. Folgueira spent 366 days at the Belgrano II base to develop his doctoral thesis as part of the project "Chronobiology of Antarctic isolation: use of the Belgrano II base as a spatial badogue (Belgrano to Mars)".

"We took measurements for one week in March, April, May, July and September," he said. "Each person had a sleep planner and answered a questionnaire.In addition, a motion sensor similar to a clock was placed (actígrafo, They also used a temperature sensor on the skin to badyze the oscillations Daily body temperature, badyze daily variations in heart rate with the help of a Holter and take urine samples of cortisol and melatonin (stress and sleep hormones). They also conducted computer tests to determine the level of alertness.What is published is only part of the project, which is still ongoing. "One of the aspects they would like to study is the relationship between these results and another equally extreme environment: that of outer space.

For Daniel Cardinali, researcher emeritus at Conicet at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of UCA, who did not participate in the study, one of the most interesting aspects of this work, the first to study the sleeping habits of a Latin American team in extreme conditions of the Antarctic, "is related to the use of naps in conditions partially extrapolated to the daily needs of our society deprived of sleep, "he explains. "How to compensate for this sleep debt without causing sleep deprivation?" Chronic – There is conclusive evidence that a short nap (20 to 30 minutes) provides a significant benefit for improving alertness and performance, without leaving a staggering sensation or interfering with nocturnal sleep, although Stigma has often been stigmatized. Siesta, it's clear that this is an effective and simple way to organize our day and adapt to the demand. s of society 24/7 in which we live ".

Marta Barbarito, researcher at the Argentine Antarctic Institute who studies the changes introduced by the "wintering syndrome" for 25 years and co-author of the book, points out that in these extreme environments, a hypersomnia is observed (decrease in attention, concentration). continues to stay despite new technologies, such as WhatsApp, Skype or the ability to connect via the Internet. "

Polar night: when the sun does not rise

Antarctica is the most hostile and inhospitable place on the planet. It is therefore used as a spatial badogue to badyze adaptation to extreme environments. In this case, a team of Argentinian scientists discovered that in the middle of the polar night, the men who wintered at the base Belgrano II, the most southerly that the country maintains on this continent, slept one hour less, but their duration was doubled. of the nap. According to specialists, this corroborates the value of this period of sleep before five o'clock in the afternoon.