Slow brain rhythms do more than reflect sleep—they help trigger it, fruit fly study suggests
For most animals, the need for sleep gradually increases during waking hours and then decreases while sleeping. In neuroscience, this accumulating need to sleep is known as sleep pressure.
Researchers from the University of Oxford's Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior have discovered that slow brain rhythms play a crucial role in triggering sleep in fruit flies. Sleep pressure, which is the gradual increase in the need for sleep, is represented by these rhythmic changes in neural activity. These findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that the identified neural circuit in the fly brain encodes sleep pressure and promotes sleep.
Understanding these mechanisms could lead to new insights into sleep disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnea, in humans.
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