Productivity in sleep mode
SLEEP deprivation is a common problem these days, especially among those addicted to e-devices and others who may be binge-watching web series on OTT channels. Sleep deprivation afflicts people of all ages. How wonderful it would be if we could carry out routine chores even as we are sleeping, thereby saving valuable sleep time! It may be possible, going by what researchers have found out about reindeer sleep patterns and the sleep cycles of other animals.
A study published in Current Biology in December 2023 reveals that reindeer can eat and sleep at the same time. ‘Arctic reindeer are quite busy in the summer — eating when the sun shines around the clock and the food is abundant. Like other ruminants, reindeer spend a considerable amount of time chewing on regurgitated food, making it smaller and easier to digest. Finding time to sleep amid all this cud-chewing might be tough, but not if the reindeer could sleep while they chewed,’ says the study.
Some time ago, another study said we could possibly learn while we were sleeping. This could be achieved by playing audio recordings of the lessons or passages that one had to commit to memory or learn and play them when one went to bed and fell asleep. The brain was said to be able to, in turn, ‘record’ that content. But the catch was that there was no guarantee that in the waking state, this information could be retrieved.
Birds are known to sleep several times a day, in what is called microsleep. Penguins take the cake when it comes to power naps. They are said to fall asleep thousands of times in a day, according to a new study published in the journal Science.
Researchers say that there is a possibility that one’s memory could be enhanced or strengthened during sleep by repeatedly playing what has been learnt already. Some tech tools could be used to aid this exercise.
Bernhard Staresina, professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford, says: ‘Direct induction of sleep spindles — for example, by stimulating the brain with electrodes — perhaps combined with targeted memory reactivation, may enable us to further improve memory performance while we sleep.’
Multitasking while sleeping seems to be something that some animals do effortlessly. Clearly, the way animals sleep is very different from the way humans do. We normally become supine and close our eyes when we go to sleep and more often than not, are in a state of oblivion, and do not really move around. Then there is the sloth, which stays motionless even in its waking state — to protect itself from predators. Cows and horses are known to sleep even as they stand; they also chew the cud while sleeping, like the reindeer. And dolphins are known to be able to sleep with one half of their brain inactive. It seems other species have been able to meet the sleep challenge in their own ways, while humans are still struggling to find solutions.
