Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep

[JazzRemington]

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."

Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug. For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil (.pdf) and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects.

The monkeys were deprived of sleep for 30 to 36 hours and then given either orexin A or a saline placebo before taking standard cognitive tests. The monkeys given orexin A in a nasal spray scored about the same as alert monkeys, while the saline-control group was severely impaired.

The study, published in the Dec. 26 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, found orexin A not only restored monkeys' cognitive abilities but made their brains look "awake" in PET scans.

Siegel said that orexin A is unique in that it only had an impact on sleepy monkeys, not alert ones, and that it is "specific in reversing the effects of sleepiness" without other impacts on the brain.

Such a product could be widely desired by the more than 70 percent of Americans who the National Sleep Foundation estimates get less than the generally recommended eight hours of sleep per night (.pdf).

The research follows the discovery by Siegel that the absence of orexin A appears to cause narcolepsy. That finding pointed to a major role for the peptide's absence in causing sleepiness. It stood to reason that if the deficit of orexin A makes people sleepy, adding it back into the brain would reduce the effects, said Siegel.

"What we've been doing so far is increasing arousal without dealing with the underlying problem," he said. "If the underlying deficit is a loss of orexin, and it clearly is, then the best treatment would be orexin."

Dr. Michael Twery, director of the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, said that while research into drugs for sleepiness is "very interesting," he cautioned that the long-term consequences of not sleeping were not well-known.

Both Twery and Siegel noted that it is unclear whether or not treating the brain chemistry behind sleepiness would alleviate the other problems associated with sleep deprivation.

"New research indicates that not getting enough sleep is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders," said Twery.

Still, Siegel said that Americans already recognize that sleepiness is a problem and have long treated it with a variety of stimulants.

"We have to realize that we are already living in a society where we are already self-medicating with caffeine," he said.

He also said that modafinil, which is marketed as Provigil by Cephalon and Alertec in Canada, has become widely used by healthy individuals for managing sleepiness.

"We have these other precedents, and it's not clear that you can't use orexin A temporarily to reduce sleep," said Siegel. "On the other hand, you'd have to be a fool to advocate taking this and reducing sleep as much as possible."

Sleep advocates probably won't have to worry about orexin A reaching drugstore shelves for many years. Any commercial treatment using the substance would need approval from the Food and Drug Administration, which can take more than a decade.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/n...eep_deprivation (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/sleep_deprivation)

(P.S. no drug jokes pleeze? :mellow: )

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

One more step on the road to total control of our own bodies. Although personally I would prefer a body that never tires in the first place.

[Demogorgon]

Another way in which having us work longer and longer hours will be justified I suppose.

On the other hand this won't be able to permanently replace sleep. We need to sleep and dream for psychological reasons after all.

It will be nice to be able to keep awake when we need to from time to time though

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Originally posted by [email protected] 30, 2007 03:42 pm
Another way in which having us work longer and longer hours will be justified I suppose.
Not really. Why do that when it's easier and cheaper to force some poor sod in China or Vietnam to work themselves to death for a pittance.

Wait, they do that already.


On the other hand this won't be able to permanently replace sleep. We need to sleep and dream for psychological reasons after all.

Doubtless something else will be invented to fulfil that need.


It will be nice to be able to keep awake when we need to from time to time though

Absolutely.

[ckaihatsu]

We'll need to organize and fight for the 16-hour workday.... :- (









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M ySp ace:
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[RedAnarchist]

Sounds like it could be really useful when you don't want to sleep.

[Dean]

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

Goodbye sleepiness, welcome pathology.

I don't believe in these technocratic fantasies. I believe in good old-fashioned social progress. Technology is a great tool for humans - too bad that those who control it are primarily interested in capitalist notions of its usage.

Our sleep doesn't just rest our bodies - it enhances our minds. Dreams are shown to be key in the maintenance of mental health - probably because our dreams force us to think over problems which face us in our daily life, from deeper, often repressed viewpoints. If you cut this out you pave the way to deeper repression, more neuroses, and eventually more submission to destructive social norms. Here's a good article on the topic: Wild Dreams (http://discovermagazine.com/2001/apr/cover)
This leads me to an idea that seems to flow naturally from the findings of Braun and his colleagues. The data regarding the sociopath/ repressive continuum come from studies of awake individuals. Most certainly, there will also be considerable variability among people as to how the prefrontal cortex functions during REM sleep. While prefrontal metabolism may remain on the floor with the transition into REM sleep on average, there will be exceptions. So I suspect it's likely that the more prefrontal metabolism remains suppressed during REM, the more vivid and disinhibited dream content will be, perhaps in a subject-specific manner. Most revealing would be some comparative studies of prefrontal metabolism during waking and sleep- ing periods. Do peo-ple who have the most active prefrontal cortices when awake have the least active when asleep? This would certainly fit the old hydraulic models of psychoanalysis, which postulate that if you repress something important during the day, it will most likely come oozing out during dreams.

[Cult of Reason]

I don't believe in these technocratic fantasies.

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Technocracy. Please find out what Technocracy is before you try to argue against it.

Myself, I think this is good news, as I think it is unlikely that it will result in people working longer hours, for the next ten years at least.

[Dean]

This has absolutely NOTHING to do with Technocracy. Please find out what Technocracy is before you try to argue against it.
I'm well-versed in the different meanings technocracy can indicate. While your particular technocratic fantasy may be a little less offensive, and may not correlate with the substance of the above article, I can assure you that I am using the term correctly.


Myself, I think this is good news, as I think it is unlikely that it will result in people working longer hours, for the next ten years at least.
You think that a massive overhaul of the human cycle - by cutting out the major balancing activity our brains undergo everyday - is good? This is why I am so disturbed by the mechanistic concept of humans that rose to popular presence in the 80s. It has even infiltrated otherwise positive leftist circles, but it is no less dangerous there. It is this kind of thinking that allows the march towards Nineteen Eighty-Four to continue.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

A materialist perspective on the human body will lead to an Orwellian society? That's a pretty big claim. Substantiate it.

[Pawn Power]

Can't wait untill we don't have to poop either!

[Cult of Reason]

I'm well-versed in the different meanings technocracy can indicate.

Such as?


While your particular technocratic fantasy may be a little less offensive,

Offensive in what way?


You think that a massive overhaul of the human cycle - by cutting out the major balancing activity our brains undergo everyday - is good? This is why I am so disturbed by the mechanistic concept of humans that rose to popular presence in the 80s. It has even infiltrated otherwise positive leftist circles, but it is no less dangerous there. It is this kind of thinking that allows the march towards Nineteen Eighty-Four to continue.

You are assuming that this technology would be used, without prior experiment, to eliminate sleep entirely? On the contrary, I think that, for the foreseeable future it will only be used in much the same way as coffee today.

Are you implying that humanity is in some way special, non-material?

[bcbm]

Not really. Why do that when it's easier and cheaper to force some poor sod in China or Vietnam to work themselves to death for a pittance.

Wait, they do that already.


Which is why so many Americans report not getting enough sleep, and stimulating themselves with coffee? I don't think its a stretch to imagine the bosses' finding some use for this...

[RHIZOMES]

This would be great. It'd give me (and billions of other people), more time to live their lives and better themselves.

[ckaihatsu]

If you've ever been working out and have become somewhat dehydrated you'll notice that the water you drink to rehydrate yourself does exactly that -- the deficiency is counteracted, and your body re-absorbs the moisture it was missing with none to spare.

Water also serves to transport chemical wastes out of the body, so it's good to drink 8 eight-ounce glasses of water daily. You'll probably have to go to the bathroom more often, but it's better for your body to have the water flowing than not.

Food is a little different from water, though. Since the human body is a general-purpose kind of animal, it can handle a pretty wide assortment of food to satisfy its nutritive needs. This doesn't mean that nature custom-made the food for the human body -- it's that the body can process it in such a way to extract what it needs and excrete the rest.

If you want to throw some business my way please send me a private message. You might be surprised to find out -- for yourself -- that there are supplements which can -- shall we say -- make the body *very* efficient at processing food...!

On this note, also, I'd like to argue along similar lines regarding sleep. You may have had those times in life where you're doing something so extraordinarily meaningful that you lose all track of time, you've forgotten to drink coffee or anything, and you've found the hours fly by, even going without your regular sleep time. I'm reminded of the quotation by Fran Leibowitz, where she says, "Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."

Perhaps sleep is simply the body's general-purpose way of rationalizing the ups-and-downs of regular, wakeful life experience. Maybe if the world functioned in a way that enabled us to live lives very close to our intentionality we would find life so perpetually exciting that we wouldn't need sleep at all.

I'd prefer to conceptualize sleep as a vestigial function -- if we can get rid of it as easily as an appendix, then all the better. I'd rather do my thinking in a wakeful, conscious state anyway...!


Chris





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Ph otoi llustr atio ns, P oliti cal Di ag rams by Ch ris K ai hatsu
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M ySp ace:
ww w. mys pace .co m/ck aihatsu

Co uchSu rfing:
htt p:/ /tinyu rl.c om/ yo h74u

[Dean]

A materialist perspective on the human body will lead to an Orwellian society? That's a pretty big claim. Substantiate it.
A materialist perspective is not bad. It is the mechanical view of humans, particularly psychology, that is so dangerous. This mechanical view led to the rise in SSRI usage in the 90s, and created the "prozac nation." A drugged society is indeed an Orwellian concept.


Such as?
A bureaucratic elite, tool worship or a system of bureaucracy are a view concepts that come to mind.


Offensive in what way?
I dunno. You tell me something and I'll judge it, if you want :D


You are assuming that this technology would be used, without prior experiment, to eliminate sleep entirely?
No, I am responding to the post which directly states this as a hopeful outcome.


On the contrary, I think that, for the foreseeable future it will only be used in much the same way as coffee today.
I see nothing wrong with that. I am not arguing against such ideas.


Are you implying that humanity is in some way special, non-material?
Yes and no. We are special, by nature of the fact that our minds are housed in our bodies and therefore must be shown more respect than other material. But we are not transcendent of material. But I don't see how you 2 are getting this from my post. A mechanical view of humans is a cold, systematic description of mankind. A materialist one is simply based in science, our natural world.

[Zurdito]

of course the social context matters: this could be used to exploit us more, and it will only be progressive if we make it progressive.

however, we need to accept it: technological progress will happen under capitalism. there's no way to wish it hadn't, if you do you will just become a pessimistic post-modernist wishing we could go back to some "simpler" life which never existed, and which is unattainable. a utopian. a fantasist.

best to just accept that long term, no-one today is more oppressed due to technological progress, but that in limited ways, even within the constrains of a capitalist society, technology has liberated people from certain problems, and has given us certain new opportunities as a species.

as a movement we will get nowehere if we lament developments like this. it's not any humans place to hold back the scientific creativity of our species, despite the potential new problems these may cause.

instead we have to use this technology for ourselves. think of the use it could be to us as revolutionaries, for example. in a socialist society, this technology would give people the option to sleep or not. that's all.

[Dr Mindbender]

I'm no expert on medicine but doesn't the body's internal organs (esp the brain and heart) require sleep to function correctly? I'd be worried that a dependency on this drug could have devastating consequences on long term health prospects.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ Yep. The heart needs times for low pulses, and certain areas of the brain shouldn't be worn out. :) The rant above by Dean isn't a primmie rant, but a medically valid argument.

[Dr Mindbender]

^^^ Yep. The heart needs times for low pulses, and certain areas of the brain shouldn't be worn out. :) The rant above by Dean isn't a primmie rant, but a medically valid argument.
...unless the drug is able to facilitate those factors, but i'm at a loss as to understand how that can be done chemically.

[crimsonzephyr]

lack of sleep leads to many "misfortunes" like cardiac problems. I dont know if i missed something but if this drug makes you un-tired, you would still suffer from the internal products of lack of sleep, right?

[Dr Mindbender]

lack of sleep leads to many "misfortunes" like cardiac problems. I dont know if i missed something but if this drug makes you un-tired, you would still suffer from the internal products of lack of sleep, right?

That's my point exactly. It strikes me that this drug would'nt so much be the holy grail to eradicate the need to sleep but more an advanced version of pro-plus.

If you consider that the time people save by not sleeping will be lost when they drop dead 20 years early from insomnia aggrivated heart attacks the whole point seems to be pretty self defeating.

Back to the drawing board, methinks.

[Entrails Konfetti]

The scientists don't know if there will be any problems associated with not getting sleep. They don't know if this this allieviates symptoms of sleeplessness, or eliminates it.

Yet, Noxion and the Technocrats praise this as an advancement, for control over our bodies. And then someone posted about how we need sleep for psyhcological reasons, "Don't worry, they'll invent something for that", says Noxion.

My problem with Technocracy is that they believe anything invented is the ultimate cure of the ill of it's given field. Theres no understanding that whatever pill, machine, or device was invented to get rid of a problem could just create a different propblem. From certain medications we can develop uclers and bleeding rectums.

I know advocates for greater technology are up against the fools who say that we should plunge back into time, and live in hunter gatherer societies. Such people forget that that humankinds desire to overcome its obstacles (or atleast progress over them) through its reasoning and logic.

Yes technology is great, and regular schmoes should be able to say how it's used, and have a hand in inventing things for the benefit of all. The point I'm getting at, as materialists we can't say we have solved something, unless there are no more problems--either created by the solution, or of those which used to persist with the thing. With this in mind, we can't say we will solve something, until the solutions applied and it's found to work. However we can hypothosise what progress our invention will make, but we'd have to define for who, and how.

[Cult of Reason]

A bureaucratic elite, tool worship or a system of bureaucracy are a view concepts that come to mind.

I see. That is not what I had in mind. The first widespread use of the term referred to these people,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement

who were a significant social movement in the 1930s.

I am an Anarchist Communist Technocrat. That is, I am trying to form a syncretism between Anarchist Communism and Technocracy and to come up with a 'plan of action'.


My problem with Technocracy is that they believe anything invented is the ultimate cure of the ill of it's given field. Theres no understanding that whatever pill, machine, or device was invented to get rid of a problem could just create a different propblem. From certain medications we can develop uclers and bleeding rectums.

That is not the case and, even if it were, it is not what Technocracy is all about. Please see the above link for an imperfect overview.

I hope I do not come across as patronising, but I find misunderstanding and confusion about the word frustrating.:crying:

[Jazzratt]

My problem with Technocracy is that they believe anything invented is the ultimate cure of the ill of it's given field. Theres no understanding that whatever pill, machine, or device was invented to get rid of a problem could just create a different propblem. From certain medications we can develop uclers and bleeding rectums.

We have ulcer creams and treatments for rectal bleeding. And that's the point, as fast as problems become apparent we can solve them. Personally I'd prefer more rigorus tests before the drug becomes widespread, but I can certainly see its usefulness and progressive potential.

As for the "mechanical" view of humans - I agree with it. We are too emotionally attatched to the biological machines which house our minds, and this kind of pointless fettering to flawed - hopefully soon to be obsolete - systems is intensly worrying too me. We may not understand the mind, but we are slowly learning more and more about the elegant mechanics of the body, and as we do so I think we should improve them.

[Marsella]

Crack.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The scientists don't know if there will be any problems associated with not getting sleep.

Wrong. The effects of sleep deprivation are well documented.


They don't know if this this allieviates symptoms of sleeplessness, or eliminates it.Doubtless trials will find that out soon enough.


Yet, Noxion and the Technocrats praise this as an advancement, for control over our bodies. And then someone posted about how we need sleep for psyhcological reasons, "Don't worry, they'll invent something for that", says Noxion.Most natural processes can be performed more quickly and efficiently by artificial (using a shovel or mechanical digger is quicker and easier than using your hands) or semi-artificial (farming produces more per acre than hunter-gathering) means. I have no reason to believe the natural processes that constitute human brain functions will be any different.


My problem with Technocracy is that they believe anything invented is the ultimate cure of the ill of it's given field. Theres no understanding that whatever pill, machine, or device was invented to get rid of a problem could just create a different propblem. From certain medications we can develop uclers and bleeding rectums.That's why we have tests, trials and further inventions/discoveries to enhance our understanding of just what's going on and allow us further control over the field in question. No single drug, machine, discovery or invention is a panacea, but each one allows progressively greater feats to be achieved.

Yes, new things bring new problems, but those problems are not necessarily as bad the problems previously encountered before the new discovery/invention. And usually there is some kind of solution or workaround that can make the new discovery useful.

[Dean]

I see. That is not what I had in mind. The first widespread use of the term referred to these people,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement

who were a significant social movement in the 1930s.

I am an Anarchist Communist Technocrat. That is, I am trying to form a syncretism between Anarchist Communism and Technocracy and to come up with a 'plan of action'.

I have read that article. All I can see that as is idealist bureaucracy with a hint of sci-fi fetishism.


As for the "mechanical" view of humans - I agree with it. We are too emotionally attatched to the biological machines which house our minds, and this kind of pointless fettering to flawed - hopefully soon to be obsolete - systems is intensly worrying too me. We may not understand the mind, but we are slowly learning more and more about the elegant mechanics of the body, and as we do so I think we should improve them.
That would be fine, if the human mind wasn't so fragile and misunderstood. The fact is that the human mind is constantly being tinkered with - and it is purely idealist to think that we can have even a noble, humanist society which is actively manipulative of the mind without serious consequences in the society, mental health and individual freedoms. This isn't a spiritualist, mystical or idealist view, it is a rational and humanist one.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

That would be fine, if the human mind wasn't so fragile and misunderstood. The fact is that the human mind is constantly being tinkered with - and it is purely idealist to think that we can have even a noble, humanist society which is actively manipulative of the mind without serious consequences in the society, mental health and individual freedoms. This isn't a spiritualist, mystical or idealist view, it is a rational and humanist one.

People tinker with their "fragile, misunderstood" minds (and others!) all the time with drugs, alcohol, education, indoctrination and other mind-altering activities. How can a rational, materialist and scientific approach to doing so be any worse than doing so out of a desire for hedonism or for a religous or ideological purpose?

[Dean]

People tinker with their "fragile, misunderstood" minds (and others!) all the time with drugs, alcohol, education, indoctrination and other mind-altering activities. How can a rational, materialist and scientific approach to doing so be any worse than doing so out of a desire for hedonism or for a religous or ideological purpose?

Drug abuse and self-medication are dangerous to our mental health, but the difference between individual choice and widespread, socially - compelled (via our medical institutions) medication is clear. When a society encourages this 'tinkering' we end up with a class of guinea pig humans, and I don't think the potential risks for anyone justify future benefits. Call me a primmie or whatever, but my primary concern is the respect and dignity of all humans, and drug use for psychological reasons is almost always a way to "fix" undesirable traits in humans, and testing for this purpose makes use out of man.

In regards to the "rational materialist and scientific approach": this is a false dichotomy. Nobody is proposing such a method; if there was one laid out, I would probably have little problem with it, especially if it addressed my abofe concerns. I am, however, talking about a specific cultural institution which constantly pushes drugs and "personality fixes" on people. It is further disturbing that a discussion on drugs created by this institution, which have the desired effect of inherent changes in the human psyche, is met purely with admiration. You can't just make "miracle drugs"; our medical history is rife with practices which ended in disturbing results, and often these were simple medication which shown no obvious signs of danger at first.

I'm sorry, but for me the human is no guinea pig for a future society: humans should be the subject of economic activity, and never the object. For this reason I am HIGHLY sceptical of medications and procedures which are used on the body, especially to "fix" problems which are not clearly problematic (i.e. natural sleeping patterns), and especially when large social organizations are the source of such drug use.