For the nine months I nursed my twins, I lived in an almost constant state of sleep-deprivation. And I tried everything I could think of: caffeine, showers, the old-fashioned, self-administered series of slaps to the cheek. I could have used the help of researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who recently announced they reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys with a chemical naturally occurring in our own brains.
Orexin-A (also known as hypocretin-1) is a peptide that regulates sleep. People with normal amounts of this peptide are able to stay alert and awake. Sleep-deprivation prevents the brain from secreting the necessary levels of Orexin-A, which causes a drop in cognitive functioning. But monkeys who were given Orexin-A after being kept awake for up to 36 hours performed similarly on tests as monkeys that weren't sleep-deprived.
Researchers haven't announced when this discovery might translate into an actual medical treatment for sleep-deprivation in humans. But I am encouraged by the nasal spray delivery system they used with the monkeys, which sounds a lot easier than dissolving amphetamines in coffee and shooting the whole mess directly into my eyeballs, which is pretty much the only thing that worked for me before.
