London - Sleepless nights could soon be no more than a bad dream.
Scientists have identified a brain chemical that plays a key role in falling asleep and staying awake.
Too little of the chemical and the brain nods off, too much and it can’t get to sleep. The finding raises the prospect of better sleeping pills.
The average Briton sleeps for six hours and seven minutes a night, well below the traditionally recommended eight hours.
Millions of prescriptions for sleep medication are written out each year, but the drugs don’t work for everyone, can cause side-effects including grogginess and can be addictive.
A recent study found those who took sleeping tablets were around 36 percent more likely to die at any given time than others.
In the latest study, US researchers focused on a brain enzyme called calcium kinase, which was known to be involved in sleep.
Giving rats a drug that stopped the enzyme from getting to work in the brain made the animals sleep more.
Encouragingly, the doses used were minimal, according to the study in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Boston University researcher Subimal Datta said: “Sleep, one of the most mysterious regular shifts in consciousness, is regulated by a delicate balance between biological processes, the environment and behaviour, but the mechanisms involved in the regulation are not well understood. The ultimate goal of my research is to deepen the understanding of how sleep is regulated at the cellular level, which could lead to finding the causes and cures for a variety of sleep disorders.
“Current treatments for sleep disorders do not achieve the ideal behavioural outcome, and are usually accompanied by many undesirable side effects.
“A more specific, fine-tuned approach to treating these disorders by promoting alertness and treating insomnia would greatly benefit public health.”
Lack of sleep is linked to a host of health problems, from heart disease and memory loss to diabetes.
Some experts say loss of sleep can have such a devastating effect on relationships that members of a couple should sleep in separate beds.
Other tips for improving sleep include cutting out siestas, not going to bed hungry and keeping the bedroom comfortably warm.
Getting some sunshine by day and using blackout curtains at night may help keep the body clock in sync.
Those who wake up during the night and find it impossible to get back to sleep have also been advised to try doing a jigsaw, the ironing or having a hot milky drink. - Daily Mail