Orexin A: Better than Coffee?

"DARPA Develops Brain Chemical to Replace Sleep" (January 02, 2008)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has come up with a nasal spray for monkeys that lets them shake off sleepiness. Not only are they as alert and smart as well-rested monkeys, but PET scans of their brains show 'wide-awake' patterns of activity.

The active ingredient is orexin A, a brain hormone.

There don't seem to be major problems with the sleep-be-gone spray: but it's early days.

My guess is that, once this stuff starts getting used on college campuses*, we'll find out what function dreams serve. And, why it's not a good idea to turn them off.

* My guess is that it's America's college students who will first try to remove sleep from their schedule. I see two groups involved:

• Scholars, who think they'll get an extra eight hours of study each night
• College kids, who see an opportunity to party 24-7, literally