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In a new research, scientists have proven that sleep was not as necessary for survival as previously believed. The results of the study suggest that sleep may not be crucial for performing basic biological functions as do foods. ( Mohamed Nuzrath | pixabay )
A new study suggests that while sleep is necessary for cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and reflexes, deprivation may not be fatal.
A team of researchers from Imperial College London conducted experiments on fruit flies to study the effects of sleep deprivation. The results, published in the journal Progress of science, revealed that even though sleep is vital for human knowledge, it is not necessary for survival, at least in the case of male fruit flies.
Sleeping or not sleeping
Previous studies have shown that some animals have succumbed to sleep deprivation. However, these studies are not clear on what happened. However, the new study suggests that the animals died as a result of stressful methods used to keep them awake.
Experiments on more than a thousand fruit flies showed that sleep-deprived flies did not die before those allowed to sleep. Female flies, on the other hand, died on average three days earlier in a 50-day life.
"[W]We report two surprising results. . . challenge the idea that sleep is a vital necessity: the discovery of virtually sleepless flies and the discovery that chronic sleep restriction in Drosophila melanogaster has significantly less life-long effects on longevity than previously thought before, "wrote the authors.
Vs food Sleeping
Although the current study involves flies, the researchers felt that if sleep is not as necessary to life as food, their results could then apply to all animals, as well. than to the man.
Dr. Gilestro explained that food is needed to stay alive because calories fuel human cells to perform basic bodily functions.
"It may be that sleep is" only useful ": it would still be difficult for us to function without it, but not necessarily fatal," added Dr. Gilestro.
He further explained that although not sleeping at all has consequences, the study questions the hypothesis that just lack of sleep is the cause of death.
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