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Sleep Helps To Repair Damaged DNA In Neurons, Scientists Find (theguardian.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the learning-and-memory dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists have discovered that broken DNA builds up in brain cells in the daytime and repair work reverses the damage only during sleep. For an act so universal, sleep has enormous benefits. Found in organisms from flies to worms and jellyfish, it restores the body and helps learning and memory. But despite extensive research, the purpose of sleep is still mysterious. Lior Appelbaum from Bar-Ilan University and his student, David Zada, reasoned that if sleep had evolved in all organisms with a nervous system, then it might be working at the level of individual neurons.

To find out, they genetically engineered small, transparent zebrafish so the chromosomes in their neurons carried colorful chemical tags. The researchers then used a powerful, specialized microscope to watch how the chromosomes moved in the neurons, and how often DNA was broken, when the fish were awake and asleep. When the fish were awake, the chromosomes did not move much and broken strands of DNA built up in the neurons, as part of the normal wear and tear of life. If the fish were sleep-deprived, by tapping on their tank for example, some of the neurons accumulated so much genetic damage they were in danger of dying off. But, when the fish fell asleep, the picture changed. The scientists noticed that the chromosomes changed shape far more often in sleeping fish, and that DNA damage in their neurons plummeted. The same happened when the researchers added a sleep-inducing drug to the tank, causing the fish to fall asleep in the daytime. "Appelbaum said that chromosomes are constantly changing shape to allow the cells' natural repair mechanisms to mend DNA damage at different points," the report adds. "When awake, the repair work cannot keep up with the rate at which damage builds up, but in the calm hours of sleep, the repair mechanisms have a chance to get on top of the job." The study has been published in Nature Communications.

98 comments

  1. I guess the /. editors don't sleep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Because they would have noticed this is a DUUUUUUUUUUUPPPPPEEEEEEEE

  2. Did I miss it? by Kokuyo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What are the exact effects of damaged neuron DNA?

    1. Re:Did I miss it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Stressed myelin sheathing that gets hit with amyloid plaques. Since you asked.

    2. Re:Did I miss it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The background file for my national security clearance got stolen by the Chinese a few years ago That contained a lot more information than the credit reports that Uncle Sam requested from all three bureaus.
      --
      "Is Wreck Ralph The Next Casey Neistat for Young Wannabe YouTubers?" #SomethingPositive & Hard work ! :)

    3. Re:Did I miss it? by Tough+Love · · Score: 1

      From the summary, the cells may die off. Even worse, they might vote republican.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  3. Sleeping with APK, repairs damaged HOSTS entries. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And not just on Windows 98, APK convinced someone to install APK++x86HOSTSdiddler Premium Edition on Windows XP, too! He's got a review from 2003 to prove it!

  4. So all that DNA-wrecking radiation ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... is rather harmless, since that's normal wear and tear, and will be repaired later anyway?

    I guess that explains why animals thrive in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

    I guess it's more complicated, and depends on what specific parts break that can't be repaired, and how our general lifestyle and upbringing are.

    1. Re:So all that DNA-wrecking radiation ... by Mouldy · · Score: 4, Informative

      Radiation damage to DNA can sometimes be repaired - but its not always repairable. There are a lot of factors, but ultimately if the damage is not repairable, the damage will often escalate into some form of cancer.

      Radiation around Chernobyl still damages DNA & causes cancer in all mammals - not just humans.

      Animals thrive in Chernobyl because there aren't any humans there. They are still having their DNA damaged by ionizing radiation though - which will give them cancer if they live long enough.

      Wild animals rarely get cancer simply because they don't live long enough. Other things kill them before they're old enough for cancer to be a concern for them; predators, disease, accidents etc.

    2. Re:So all that DNA-wrecking radiation ... by Gilgaron · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not at all, why would you think that? A table is damaged through use and needs refinished versus smashed with a sledge and needs repaired... repairing shorn nucleotides is far different than a double strand break. The animals in Chernobyl get cancer, but it turns out that cancer is less bad for them than human cohabitation.

  5. Remembet when stuff mattered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Guys, I don't know who did what to you... but is this what you want to focus your valuable life on?

    Imagine what you *could* be doing!
    If it's at all possible, (maybe in a good moment,) can you actually change something in your environment, no matter (!) how small, that changes you towards doing something more worthwile of your time than these morons and assholes?

    And if you just can't, can you try a smaller step instead?
    And can you recruit anyone to enable you to take bigger steps? Some nice person who gives a shit and takes it seriously?

    Cause if you check how you feel right now, it's (also) your own time that is ruined by this, isn't it?

    1. Re:Remembet when stuff mattered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guys, I don't know who did what to you...

      My uncle took me to the woods along with a bucket of lard and he stuck his thing in my tree knot. Gladly enough, some bees came to my rescue!

  6. Poor editting, as usual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    The story does not explain why DNA damage is a problem for a neuron and the statement " the neurons accumulated so much genetic damage they were in danger of dying off" is just thrown in as if it made sense to a layman.
    It does not.

    EDITORS, EDIT !

    1. Re:Poor editting, as usual by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      What do you want, a car analogy? The cell needed its oil changed from running too long without maintenance.

    2. Re: Poor editting, as usual by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, bad "edditing"

  7. Purpose by religionofpeas · · Score: 1, Interesting

    But despite extensive research, the purpose of sleep is still mysterious

    Main purpose of sleep is simply saving energy. It's hard to safely find food in the dark, so it's better to go into a power down mode instead, and expend the energy during the day. Not mysterious at all.

    1. Re:Purpose by bluegutang · · Score: 2

      If that's the purpose, it would be much better to stay awake and relaxed, so that predators couldn't attack you while asleep.

    2. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except we don't really save much energy by sleeping and we expose ourselves to danger. That explanation was ruled out many years ago but I guess the slashdot experts on everything know better.

    3. Re:Purpose by religionofpeas · · Score: 0

      That would depend on the energy difference between staying alert and sleeping, and the chance of getting attacked by predators, and your ability to spot them in the dark. Also depends on the sleeping patterns of the predators. Some animals (e.g. ducks) do indeed stay more alert than others.

    4. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. This is an early theory that emerged that has since been debunked.

    5. Re:Purpose by idji · · Score: 2

      many animals are nocturnal, and many archaic animals live in the dark depths of the sea without light, so your answer doesn't hold. Even burrowing mammals, like blind moles sleep.

    6. Re:Purpose by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Except we don't really save much energy by sleeping and we expose ourselves to danger

      What do you mean by "we" ?

      Are you talking about humans, or about all organisms with a sleep/wake cycle ?

    7. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is demonstrably false. Forcibly sleep-deprived animals (and people) die much sooner than they deplete their stored (as fat) energy reserves.

    8. Re:Purpose by religionofpeas · · Score: 0

      many animals are nocturnal, and many archaic animals live in the dark depths of the sea without light, so your answer doesn't hold

      That depends on how these animals evolved. Here's my hypothesis:

      1) sleep evolved to save energy
      2) once sleep cycle was introduced into organism, evolution modified biochemistry on various levels to take advantage of sleep/wake cycle.
      3) organism becomes dependent on these modifications, even after evolving to new habitats.

    9. Re:Purpose by religionofpeas · · Score: 2

      That is demonstrably false. Forcibly sleep-deprived animals (and people) die much sooner than they deplete their stored (as fat) energy reserves.

      That's because they've evolved to become dependent on sleep/wake patterns. Once an organism goes to sleep every night, it makes sense to optimize their biochemistry by doing some tasks only during the sleep cycle.

    10. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once an organism goes to sleep every night, it makes sense to optimize their biochemistry by doing some tasks only during the sleep cycle.

      Goal posts unsuccessfully moved. Try again or simply accept (and acknowledge) that your offhand, know-it-all, dismissive statement of fact is actually nothing more than some childlike theory long ago disproven by those that actually know something about this field of study and that you might not actually be as smart as you think you are.

    11. Re:Purpose by quanminoan · · Score: 2

      There are many functions of sleep, but conserving energy is not one of them. Sleeping is quite a handicap in terms of "staying alive" as it leaves you open to predation, yet *every* animal studied has some form of sleep. List of things that occur while you sleep is always growing, but for starters: memory consolidation, neuron connection/deletion optimization, neuron protein and contaminate cleanup, body immunity boosting / cleanup, etc. If you don't get enough sleep certain things skyrocket: heart disease and heart attack, cancer, Alzheimer's, neurological disease, depression, illness, obesity, etc. The book "Why We Sleep" by Matthew Walker is fantastic, although it resulted in me quite becoming anxious about not getting 8 hours of sleep (hard with young kids!).

    12. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are many ways to save energy. What you have to ask yourself is are there other ways the other sleep-related tasks can be accomplished if we didn't sleep, and that answer is mostly no. During sleep your brain flushes itself with fluid and runs through memories reorganizing them. Your body paralyzes itself during this time. If you were awake, you'd be going crazy with random things coming into your head and thinking they're real and actually happening (learn hypnosis or lucid dreaming if you want to play around with this). You'd be moving around acting out and responding to the random memory changes instead of your actual environment.

      Hibernation is what saves energy, sleep is a repair cycle. Your body shifts from spending its resources responding to the environment, ready to run, fight, or discover to the internal management of maintaining itself and repairing. Our systems aren't optimal. You can make all the theories you want, but you need to test them before claiming they're true. What is the energy usage while laying down while awake? What is the energy usage while sleeping? The difference is only around 5-10% which is like skipping a piece of toast. Foraging around for an additional 8 hours should gain you more than 10% of energy intake, so sleep's primary cause is very unlikely to be energy saving. In terms of light/dark, it would be more optimal to forage/hunt all day long and spend all night eating the collected food instead of wasting daylight eating. No animals work like that.

      Some (all?) sea creatures sleep using only half of the brain at a time. This lets them continue swimming, surface for air (for the non-water breathers), etc...

    13. Re:Purpose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's hard to safely find food in the dark

      Incorrect. Lions, wild dogs and hyenas all hunt at night as well as day. Lions, wild dogs and hyenas all sleep during the day as well as night.

      Read up on nocturnal and diurnal animal habits.

      I'll just leave you with one word - - owls. OK, two - - bats.

    14. Re:Purpose by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Exactly why does the most primitive jellyfish sporting a nervous system need to stop accumulating food? They do not flee (they may react when touched), they do not (for the most part) actively seek. Explain why they need to shut down for 'rest'.

    15. Re:Purpose by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Hurray! You've just validated the friggin' article. Repairing the neurons is that 'task' you're searching for. And that is far more likely to the source of the pattern than energy efficiency. Your cart is ahead of your horse.

    16. Re:Purpose by careysub · · Score: 1

      Main purpose of sleep is simply saving energy. It's hard to safely find food in the dark, so it's better to go into a power down mode instead, and expend the energy during the day. Not mysterious at all.

      This is not an actual fact. It is a simplistic speculation as to the possible "main purpose of sleep" purporting to be an incontrovertible truth. But the ubiquity of sleep to all essentially all vertebrates (at least) suggests this cannot be "the answer". Yes, you can find lots of places claiming that animal X "does not sleep" but if you dig just a little into the claim, you find that really they just have a very different sleep pattern.

      There is a pretty obvious demonstration that "it mainly conserves energy" cannot be true. If you are in a normal state of health and are deprived either of food, or sleep, which will kill you quicker? It is the lack of sleep. If it was entirely (or mostly) a matter of "saving energy" then being deprived of all energy (in the form of food) would seem to be more lethal, but it isn't. If it is just a matter of "saving energy" why would sleep deprivation kill you at all?

      The ubiquity of sleep, and evolutionary considerations, suggest that there is no "main purpose" of sleep but instead it is a process that has broad based benefits, that likely vary in importance from species to species. Of all the many metabolic processes an animal's body conducts some of them will be done more efficiently when the organism is quiescent. If there is a quiescent period as part of a diurnal cycle, those processes will migrate to being normally conducted during this period. For example (to pick one that is easy to relate to) muscle growth normally occurs during sleep. It is easy to see how cellular changes would be more efficiently conducted while the muscle is resting and more than you would (car analogy) repair a motor while it is running. Lack of sleep is lethal because there are metabolic maintenance processes that require sleep, and cannot be put off indefinitely.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  8. Yawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yawn... zzzzzz....

  9. It raises interesting questions by Sqreater · · Score: 4, Interesting

    For one, does caffeine cause brain damage by keeping us awake? Does caffeine affect the sleep we do get and does it therefore interfere with the DNA repair process? Why is it that sometimes we can sleep few hours and wake feeling more refreshed than when we sleep for more hours? Does the repair process take place more quickly for some reason we are not aware of during the smaller sleep period? Will humanity be able to create a drug that supports rapid DNA repair in the brain and thus lower the amount of time we actually need to be asleep? Do the sleep states indicate what parts of the brain the DNA repair process is taking place in, or does that process take place all at once in all areas of the brain? What is a nap?

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
    1. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A better question:

      Why exactly, do you want to sleep less?

      Do you think that if you spend less time asleep, you will somehow get more personal time?

      Do you think that if you sleep less, you will be able to do more work? If so, who actually profits from that? Do you not realize that labor is a commodity, and like any commodity that gluts the market, it suddenly being even more available will just lower its trade value?

      Why exactly do you want to sleep less?

    2. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was wondering if meditation during the day can also start the healing process. It would explain the claims by meditation practioners

    3. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      These are mostly easy questions if you do any basic research. Caffeine suppresses your feelings of tiredness, it doesn't make you more awake. You feel and thus act more awake, but your body isn't. The body goes though roughly 90 minute cycles while sleeping. If you wake up in the middle of a cycle you're going to feel like shit. If you wake up at the end of the cycle you'll feel like you simply closed your eyes then opened them.

      A nap is a period of sleep. A nap for 90 minutes and you've gone through one period. However, your body clock is synchronized around roughly 24 hours. Your body is likely not expecting to sleep at that time so you don't get the full benefits of sleep. There's much, much more going on that just your brain going through it's wash cycle when you're asleep. I'd bet those other cleanup activities are greatly reduced during naps since the cells aren't getting the slow sleep-time build-up signals, but I could be wrong.

    4. Re:It raises interesting questions by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1
      I think the better question is related to this:

      When awake, the repair work cannot keep up with the rate at which damage builds up, but in the calm hours of sleep, the repair mechanisms have a chance to get on top of the job.

      What are we doing while awake that increases the rate of damage? It can't be environmental since that would presumably also be a factor while sleeping. Does *thinking* damage the brain's DNA? I don't want to even think about the implications of that...

      --
      This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
    5. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A better question:

      Why exactly, do you want to sleep less?

      That's not a better question. That's a stupid question; or at least a rhetorical one; or at the very least one with such an obvious answer nobody would even bother asking. Why do you think one might want to sleep less? FFS, to get more out of actual, living life! Time is forever slipping through our fingers. Why would anyone want to spend what precious little time we have here in a deep state of unconsciousness if that state were not necessary to sustain life?

      Ask yourself the obviously related question...why, exactly, do you want to sleep? I would imagine most of us sleep because it feels good...but it only feels good because our bodies need that sleep to recover from the day's activities. Our brains need that time to repair and return to normal function. Our brains spend all day long gradually wearing itself down to the point where it needs time to repair. If that need could be removed such that our brains continued to work full speed with no degradation, then why else would you actually *want* to sleep?

    6. Re:It raises interesting questions by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      A better question:

      Why exactly, do you want to sleep less?

      Do you think that if you spend less time asleep, you will somehow get more personal time?

      Do you think that if you sleep less, you will be able to do more work? If so, who actually profits from that? Do you not realize that labor is a commodity, and like any commodity that gluts the market, it suddenly being even more available will just lower its trade value?

      Why exactly do you want to sleep less?

      Ah here we have the unionist work as little as possible, sleep as much as possible model. Yeah, we had a few of you back in the day. Check in, then go hide in some nook and sleep most of the day. I guess in your book, they are winning.

      I've never been much of a sleeper, I've also had a lot of energy. And while some of the folk I worked with would get a bit pissed that I was willing to put in more time, it showed the revers of your cheapened commodity claim, as I was paid much more then the others. And retired at 55, while they are still working.

      Bummer, eh?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:It raises interesting questions by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 0

      What are we doing while awake that increases the rate of damage?

      Obsessing about getting the right amount of sleep.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    8. Re:It raises interesting questions by yes-but-no · · Score: 1

      Or a very profound question. Say I give you a boon that in two hours of sleep you will feel completely refreshed. So you have extra 6 hours per day than an average human. What are you going to do with it? watch more netflix/youtube, practice on your art/music? and do what? does that aid in your purpose? and what is your purpose? If you say I want to reach this goal xyz, I will ask why xyz? the point is a human feels the most happiness/bliss in deep-sleep and not while in the waking state. 'coz at that time, the misery maker, mind is non existent. So likely the conclusion is it doesn't matter if you have more hours or less hours of wakefulness. Its contribution is kinda nil.

    9. Re:It raises interesting questions by cyberchondriac · · Score: 1

      Sleep is underrated. Those who say, "Eh, I'll sleep when I'm dead" may find themselves sleeping sooner than they thought they would. The brain, heart, and body need downtime, or at least low power mode, regularly. That doesn't mean someone needs to sleep 10 hours a day though either.

      --

      Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
    10. Re:It raises interesting questions by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Do you think that if you spend less time asleep, you will somehow get more personal time? Do you think that if you sleep less, you will be able to do more work?

      I would be happy to do either of those in exchange for sleep.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    11. Re:It raises interesting questions by sims+2 · · Score: 1

      Well considering on weekdays if I go to bed after I get home from work at a reasonable hour I have 2 hours of time at home per workday to handle anything that needs to be done and then whatever time is left over for entertainment an additional 6 hours would be the the ability to have a life outside of work.

      Of course this is assuming that if this was all of a sudden a standard thing that employers wouldn't suddenly expect an extra 6 hours of work out of people and people wouldn't suddenly be ok with working an extra 6 hours a day.

      --
      Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    12. Re:It raises interesting questions by yarbo · · Score: 1

      It's like living 35% longer, except that the extra time is at your prime instead of at the end! I get joy out of my hobbies and projects and would appreciate the extra 40 hours a week for them.

    13. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dunno but I actually develop fevers if I push myself hard on really complex work for a week or so, and it takes a long period of lower stress to come back down from that state.

    14. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      "My single, and notedly exceptional to the rule claim obviates your statement, because I'm totally representative of the masses, except I'm not!"

      Yeah... That's real enlightening. Try this one on instead.

      After the second world war, women were regularly in the workplace, having migrated there during the war in order to keep their households and the nation's economy running. When the war was over, BOTH spouses were now working, which previously was not the case.

      There was an initial boom is available money from having both partners earning an income, but guess what happened?

      The market adapted to the increased income, costs of living ballooned, wages stagnated and contracted, and where are we now?

      Just TRY and have a decent quality of living with a stay at home spouse. I dare you.

      Reason? The markets for commodities (including labor) adapted to the new equilibrium. The SAME FUCKING THING will happen if everyone now gets to sleep less, and spend more time awake. YOU WILL NOT HAVE MORE FREE TIME AS A PERCENTAGE OF TIME AWAKE. You *WILL* spend a proportionally representative amount of that time working your ass off for even less pay, as a result of the increased labor availability. That's what markets do.

      So go take your ignorant retired snowflake self, and stop pretending that "If everyone worked just a LITTLE harder---" because that is not what happens when EVERYONE does something. It ONLY works the way it did for you, when SOME do so, and OTHERS do not. In short, your early retirement came because others refused to emulate your behavior, and your employer found your behavior more desirable and paid accordingly. The current reality is that many if not most people work additional jobs in the cesspit known as "The gig economy" to make ends meet, and as more people do that, the market with adapt, forcing EVERYONE to do it as prices of goods and services go up, and wages continue to stagnate/go down over time compared to that inflation.

      Thank you sir, have a nice day.

    15. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      I see that you DO NOT UNDERSTAND the question AC, Or rather, do not understand the implication of the question. Here, I will spell it out for you.

      A person's ability to "Have a life" in the modern capitalist world, is based on how much of a person's energy and productive potential they are willing to exchange for the materials required to feel that sense of fullfillment and enjoyment. (EG, to pay for food that actually tastes good, or for housing that isn't in a festering roach hole.)

      The laws of supply and demand (Absent greedy actors that can game the system, which certain do exist) naturally cause an equilibrium, where the aggregate average amount of work people on average are willing to do sets the market value of labor, and since both the buyer and the seller of that labor both want to maximize the economy of that transaction, that equilibrium is maintained even when disruptions happen (like automation). This is because if one side or the other gains advantage, it causes either increased supply (which drives down profit potentials) or increased demand (which drives up prices.)

      If *EVERYONE* suddenly only needed 4 hours of sleep, instead of 8, everyone would have an additional 4 hours of total time available to them. However, the reality of the marketplace would drive down wages (because people are working more hours) and drive up prices (because people have more time to purchase/consume things, increasing total consumption, and thus driving up demand)., and do so in a fashion that preserves that equilibrium.

      In short, you would spend the same percentage of your time awake slaving at your job (that statistically most people hate) as you do now. If you spend 9 hours out of every 24 hour day doing that slaving now, (a little under a 3rd of your total day, with the others spent sleeping, eating/bathing/getting dressed/commuting/etc and what counts as free time), you can expect to work an additional 1 and a half hours every day (or more), and not see a single penny increase in your savings for the trouble.

      IS THAT REALLY WHAT YOU WANT?

      So no, this is NOT a stupid question. It's an insightful question that you failed to grasp the meaning of.

    16. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Yes, I am certain that you would.

      The problem is that you will not get that for your sacrifice. You will instead get to enjoy the same standard of living you currently enjoy, but with spending more time at work for your trouble, and will likely end up using the rest of the time you made this way working in the gig economy to try to get ahead (like everyone else), driving down the costs of labor through market saturation.

      Those were sardonic rhetorical questions. If you think you will get those things, you are mistaken. The forces that power the capitalist system and its markets will see to it, because those forces and that system seek to extract maximal value from all exchanges already. You will not have any new surplus of value. You will only devalue the labor you already do.

      So, why do you want to sleep less?

    17. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      No, you will work longer and harder at your job, and get paid the same amount, and die younger from the increased stress and demands on your body.

      Remember, this is a scenario where everyone-- and I mean EVERYONE-- is able to do this reliably/affordably. You will not be unique in having the increased time. This will have the effect of increasing the workforce's size-- at least as far as what it will do to "Dollars paid per hour of work". It will devalue labor. You will have to work more hours to compensate, as will everyone else.

      See also, how the US went from "A single spouse makes enough to provide a good living to a stay at home spouse and raise children on it too" to "Both partners need good employment for that to happen." as a result of both partners entering the workforce as the new norm after the second world war. There was a brief period where wages stayed high and households with both partners working became wealthier, but the market reacted to this anomaly with increased costs, and eventually contracted wages as corrections to that anomaly.

      The same thing will happen if everyone sleeps less.

      The notion that you will get to spend all that time doing whatever you want is absurd. It wont happen that way. You will spend a significant fraction of that time working longer for less pay, as the market adjusts to the new normal.

    18. Re:It raises interesting questions by G00F · · Score: 1

      Do you think that if you sleep less, you will be able to do more work? If so, who actually profits from that? Do you not realize that labor is a commodity, and like any commodity that gluts the market, it suddenly being even more available will just lower its trade value?

      A comic on just that principle http://powernapcomic.com/

      Wish it would update more often, but it is what it is.

      --
      The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
    19. Re:It raises interesting questions by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      "My single, and notedly exceptional to the rule claim obviates your statement, because I'm totally representative of the masses, except I'm not!"

      Let's make this simple, I've profited mightily off of taking advantage of people with your outlook. Your laziness makes my job easier, and brings me more money. Its okay if you do as little as possible. It's how you stick it to the man.

      So go take your ignorant retired snowflake self, and stop pretending that "If everyone worked just a LITTLE harder---" because that is not what happens when EVERYONE does something.

      Of course, but I know human nature. And I enjoy work. A majority of people are lazy. A majority of people actualy don't want to work at all, and are happy to approach that if possible. That is my secret sauce. People aren't going to all work harder. So I bring value, and have been rewarded for it.

      Snowflake? You have no idea - especially since you are the one displaying snowflake tendencies. I'm taking advantage of you lazy pups. The irony is that since I've been retired so early, my life is the one that lazy people wish they had.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    20. Re:It raises interesting questions by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Every single one of your posts so far has been all about how special and wonderful YOU are.

      That is why you are a snowflake. You insist on trying to be special, and to try justifying your specialness.

      I AM glad that you do acknowledge that your behavior is not indicative of the human norm, however-- It spares me having to listen to you preach about how good the world would be if everyone just worked a little harder, because it acknowledges that this is a total farce.

      I am not "Lazy" as you put it though. I simply am more picky about how I choose to spend my time, and have different judgments on what constitutes a good use of that time. I am quite industrious, with many self-rewarding and even useful hobbies. It is not like I sit on my duff and do nothing and think this is some high ideal. I just do not fancy the idea of being forced to spend even more time working for a profiteering employer, because of the short-sighted gleams in people's eyes, as they count the hours of free time they will not be enjoying.

      I do not value money so highly, in other words. As such, your slavish devotion to the stuff, and your idiotic pride in your early retirement as a feather in your cap, do not impress me.

    21. Re:It raises interesting questions by Sqreater · · Score: 1

      And a further thought occurs: Is it even "damage" that they are seeing? Could it be part of memory storage or some other necessary function that is not damage repair but is being mis-characterized as that?

      --
      E Proelio Veritas.
    22. Re: It raises interesting questions by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure your second paragraph is false. In general so far in my life I've been able to control roughly how much I want to work. Right now I am working 60 hours a week at two jobs, but that is by choice, since I took a rather long sabbatical before that. I regret nothing.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    23. Re:It raises interesting questions by Sqreater · · Score: 1

      More time for input. More time to learn. More time to build and execute behaviors to satisfy my accent to the Human Motivation Array.

      --
      E Proelio Veritas.
    24. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nice humble brag. I rate it an 8/10.
      The strategy of hiding your arrogance in a story about how you're such a high energy worker seems to be working out well for you.
      Still, it could have been a little more subtle, and maybe a little more false altruism could have been thrown in just to round it out more.

    25. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You either maximize sleep or maximize awake. If you're against maximizing being awake, then you must be fore maximizing being asleep. We have drugs for that already, put you in a coma for the rest of your life.

    26. Re:It raises interesting questions by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Sleep is underrated. Those who say, "Eh, I'll sleep when I'm dead" may find themselves sleeping sooner than they thought they would.

      Hey - I dream solutions to problems when I'm asleep. I don't dislike it at all. My biggest issue is the concept that as a person that goes to sleep when they are sleepy, and wakes up when they are refreshed must have 8 or more hours to do so, lest they be committing slow motion suicide.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    27. Re:It raises interesting questions by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Every single one of your posts so far has been all about how special and wonderful YOU are.

      I offer an alternative. You can take it, you can ignore it, or you can get pissed off. Perhaps I am guilty of listening to people whine, bitch and moan about how terrible they have it, and mistakenly think they might want to do something different.

      But yeah , I'm convinced by now, that what you are doing is bitching and moaning because that is what you want to do. Let us know how that works out for ya.

      That is why you are a snowflake. You insist on trying to be special, and to try justifying your specialness.

      Oh, silly lad. Here's the definition of Snowflake from Wikipedia :Generation Snowflake, or Snowflake Generation, is a neologistic term used to characterize the young adults of the 2010s as being more prone to taking offence and less resilient than previous generations, or as being too emotionally vulnerable to cope with views that challenge their own. The term is considered derogatory.

      Now of course, a lot of people have politicized it to mean anyone of any age, but it remains that propensity to take offense and being unable to cope with other's views. But monchichi, that's more fitting of you than me. I haven't taken offense at one word you've said, and I've known for a long time that there are a lot of people out there with a different outlook than mine. I don't really care. Sometimes I have a little fun with y'all. That's my bad.

      I am special - because I've done a lot of things, had a successful career, made good money, and am now "livin the dream as one co-worker put it.

      I AM glad that you do acknowledge that your behavior is not indicative of the human norm, however-- It spares me having to listen to you preach about how good the world would be if everyone just worked a little harder, because it acknowledges that this is a total farce.

      Damn - nice kid, but he don't always pay attention. If you were working with me, I would have no problems with you doing the absolute minimum. I even said as much. Why is that? Well, despite the typical slashdotter hating their employer, and believing that employers are inherently evil, they aren't. That's why I made three times as much as fellow employees with the same job title.

      But okay - you've made your point, even if it isn't the one you think you made. Not much point in discussions with the unyielding. Time wasted is time lost.

      As Winston Churchill noted, “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” gotta move on.

      Live long and prosper, my dawg.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    28. Re:It raises interesting questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe this is some sort of long term memory? I would want to study the baseline rate of repair and compare it to other types of cells and their rates of dna repair. Does the rate of repair change when a neuron "learns" something? Information may not exist only at the synaptic/connection level.

  10. Re:Sleeping with APK, repairs damaged HOSTS entrie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    APK puts you unidentifiable anonymous morons to sleep by easily knocking you out with fact https://tech.slashdot.org/comm...

  11. Re::WTF??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neither Creimerism nor raiding his Twitter feed isn't hard to do. If you stop, I'll stop. Otherwise, I'll keep responding to your inane comments.

  12. Re:Sleeping with APK, repairs damaged HOSTS entrie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That link is just the gay baby APK throwing a temper tantrum as his gay as gets destroyed.

  13. Re:Sleeping with APK, repairs damaged HOSTS entrie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You favor DNS. ICANN\DHS say DNS=dangerous due to poisoning. Wildcards DNS does do false positives too. Hosts don't even against a DGA due to specific entries that can't cause waves of false positives and hosts resolve you faster and keep you safe from dns requestlog tracking all put out by APK here that shut you up with facts https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... proving You are a moron.

  14. Fuck off APK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fuck off APK.

    1. Re:Fuck off APK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK 1st knocked you out w/ a dose of 5 knuckle Nyquil then he FUCKED YOU UP THE ASS with https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... and I think you LIKE it hahahaha and now you ask he fuck off AFTER you fucked yourself? Come on now. You must be a homosexual nyphomaniac!

    2. Re:Fuck off APK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What is that? APK fists his own asshole while dreaming of having violent butt sex with dudes while having his sphincter split before hosting 300 dicks at the truck stop. We know you are a homo APK so you might as well sign your gay fantasy posts.

  15. All doctors should now sue AMA by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It was routine till recently to put the medical residents on a 36 hour shifts. Something not done even on the pre union days of US Railroads that would assign double shifts of 16 hours. Truck drivers cant drive for more than 8 hours without taking a break. Now, after lots of hue and cry, they have reduced it to 24 hour shifts now. It was all approved by AMA and it should bear responsibility for not protecting the residents. Their brain has been permanently damaged by the sleep deprivation.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:All doctors should now sue AMA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damaging them is kind of the point though isn't it?
      We can't have a bunch of intelligent wealthy people walking around now can we?
      No no no! That just wouldn't fit the narrative of a crumbling expensive healthcare system that needs government to step in and take care of things now would it?

  16. Ask Hornwumpus. He's got firsthand experience. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Symptoms include:
    1) Apologism
    2) #MAGAtardedness
    3) Not knowing the difference between social programs as socialism
    4) Blindly supporting a known criminal and traitor who cares so little about his country, that he was only ever in it for shameless self-promotion and personal gain.

    If you don't believe me, just ask Hornwumpus. He'll prove it to you.

  17. Quantum mechanics observer effect? by nbritton · · Score: 1

    That's interesting. What if the mechanism behind this action of the chromosomes moving is related in some way to quantum mechanics. For instance, what if when we are asleep we no longer have an observer effect.

  18. You have issues... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See? There you go having "StRaNgE" 'phantasies' about me again - you have SERIOUS issues in your psychotic obsession w/ me!

    APK

    P.S.=> Oh, & GROW UP... apk

    1. Re:You have issues... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm not the one who keeps talking about wanting to ass rape dudes and wanting to fuck dudes up the ass. That would be you APK, and that makes you a homo even if you deny it. You talk about giving people a fist so it is only logical to assume that you fist your own ass. Also your exploits at the truck stop are well known. Why do you make so many posts where you talk about yourself in the third person? That can't be a sign of a well mind.

  19. You're the one I CRUSH... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: on Q-Bot https://it.slashdot.org/commen... & DNS/Wildcards https://tech.slashdot.org/comm... EASILY publicly DESTROYING YOU blowhard, lol!

    * WANT MORE CHUMP?

    APK

    P.S.=> Ask & "ye shall receive" as I love "administering beatings" to SCUM like you that STALK/HARASS/LIBEL me HIDING behind UNIDENTIFIABLE anonymous WEEZIL posts, lol... apk

    1. Re:You're the one I CRUSH... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There you go again homo changing the subject when you are exposed. You did the same thing in those links too.

    2. Re:You're the one I CRUSH... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You ass raped yourself! Links APK posted show where he crushed you as you stalk him as unidentifiable anon only to assrape yourself.

    3. Re:You're the one I CRUSH... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We get it APK you are a homo and like to have butt sex with men. You can stop telling us all about your desires. But why are you referring to yourself in the third person now?

    4. Re:You're the one I CRUSH... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You like to fuck yourself with proof https://science.slashdot.org/c... from APK showing you do.

  20. More pointless animal torture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vivisectionists sure do love pissing away billions of dollars every year on their blatantly fraudulent and useless 'research'.

    We all KNOW, from our own experience, what sleep deprivation does to us. There is a simple solution - sleep more. It's the ONLY solution. This 'research' is completely worthless.