According to a recent research conducted at the University of Sydney in Australia, most mammals have a similar system sleep, that is their brain is equally long and has cycles of REM sleep, has a similar system entering sleep and out of it, even neural activity during sleep in most mammals is identical.
Australian researchers say these findings suggest that the phenomenon of sleep and its principles - this is a very deep evolutionary phenomenon, performing one of the most important functions in the body. The scientists say that in various animals sleep mechanisms differ in appearance, but the internal processes are similar. This is true for dolphins, which cut off during sleep only half of the brain, and for rodents that can sleep short snippets of time, completely shut down.
"It can be argued that the origin of sleep is universal for most animals. System entering an animal in a sleeping state is unique for all, it has developed in the course of a single evolutionary trends at the time and during sleep in different animal species may differ," - says Andrew Phillips, author of the study .
In the study, Australian researchers have identified a number of structural processes involved in the overall regulation of sleep. First, scientists did not know exactly what physiological mechanisms play the most important role in the regulation of sleep. Now, these mechanisms are identified and scientists have come to the conclusion that they are universal.
In addition, a sleep of the universal model showing why the symptoms of sleep in different species are different. For example, the model explains why during sleep Dolphins cut off only half of the brain, while the other is still active. Also, scientists have identified the so-called "centers of sleep" in most mammals.
Based on these data, scientists hope to create a completely harmless to human drugs for insomnia, as well as to treat a variety of sleep disorders.
