sleep/wake cycle

Two studies identify a signaling pathway that contributes to the fish’s sleeplessness.

The award in Physiology or Medicine goes to chronobiologists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael Young.

By studying the sleep-wake cycle of fruit flies, Amita Sehgal is revealing how the body’s circadian and sleep rhythms are regulated.

Disrupting the light/dark cycles of pregnant mice, researchers observe detrimental effects in the mouths of the animals’ pups.

People continue to hear and process words during light non-REM sleep, a study shows.

Assessing body position in addition to activity may improve monitoring of sleep-wake periods.

Renowned sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman and a colleague spent a month underground to test the body’s natural rhythms.

An overview of the human sleep cycle

Once believed to be unique to birds and mammals, sleep is found across the metazoan kingdom. Some animals, it seems, can’t live without it, though no one knows exactly why.

Researchers have identified a gene that ties sleeping patterns to the winter blues experienced by many people living at extreme northern and southern latitudes.

In a large genome-wide association study, researchers from 23andMe locate 15 DNA regions associated with people’s preferences for early morning starts.

The body’s circadian rhythm has more of an effect on glucose tolerance than one’s eating and sleeping patterns, a study shows.  

A mistimed sleep cycle drastically reduces the number of genes that are expressed in a 24-hour rhythm.

Humans’ circadian clocks become skewed when they are exposed to electric lights but revert to a schedule more in tune with the sun when they go camping.

The eating schedule—and not the amount of calories—can make the difference between an obese, diabetic, sick mouse and one with a healthy metabolism.

Researchers uncover weekly and monthly rhythms of sodium retention and excretion in participants of space simulations.