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Regulation of sleep homeostasis by sexual arousal
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Journal Article
Regulation of sleep homeostasis by sexual arousal
2017
Overview
In all animals, sleep pressure is under continuous tight regulation. It is universally accepted that this regulation arises from a two-process model, integrating both a circadian and a homeostatic controller. Here we explore the role of environmental social signals as a third, parallel controller of sleep homeostasis and sleep pressure. We show that, in Drosophila melanogaster males, sleep pressure after sleep deprivation can be counteracted by raising their sexual arousal, either by engaging the flies with prolonged courtship activity or merely by exposing them to female pheromones. Humans spend one-third of their lifetime sleeping, but why we (and other animals) need to sleep remains an unresolved mystery of biology. Our desire to sleep changes depending on how much sleep we’ve already had. If we’ve had a long nap during the day, we may find it harder to fall asleep at night; conversely, if we stay up all night partying, we’ll have a difficult time staying alert the next day. This change in the pressure to sleep is known as “sleep homeostasis”. Can sleep homeostasis be suppressed? We know that some migratory birds are able to resist sleep while flying over the ocean. In addition, males of an Arctic bird species forgo sleep for courtship during the three-week window every year when females of its species are fertile. These examples suggest that some behavioral or environmental factors may influence sleep homeostasis. Beckwith et al. now show that sexual arousal can disrupt sleep homeostasis in fruit flies. In “blind date” experiments, young male fruit flies were kept in a small tube with female fruit flies, prompting a 24-hour period of courtship and mating. The males went without sleep during that period, and they did not make up for the lost sleep afterward. In other experiments, male fruit flies were kept awake by a robot that disturbed them every time they tried to sleep. After such treatment, the flies normally attempted to nap. But if the sleep-deprived flies were exposed to a chemical emitted by female flies that increased their sexual arousal, they no longer needed to sleep. Overall, the results presented by Beckwith et al. show that sleep is a biological drive that can be overcome under certain conditions. This will be important for sleep researchers to remember, because it means that it’s possible to affect sleep regulation (perhaps by making the animal stressed or aroused) without activating the brain circuits directly involved in regulating sleep.
