That's what some Swiss scientists are saying as they purport to unlock the mystery of sleep
Mehdi Tafti, head of the research project at Lausanne University's Centre for Integrative Genomics,... an expert in sleep disorders, has spent the past 20 years trying to work out why humans spend a third of their lives in bed.
His research team recently published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science journal, identifying a gene – Homer1a – that controls levels of calcium in neurons in the brain.
Mice, like humans, need calcium to function when awake, but the longer they are up and about, the more calcium builds up, and when the levels get too high, the neurons get over-stimulated.
Sleep, therefore, is nature's way of reducing these excessive calcium levels in the brain. And Homer1a plays a key role.
"This gene regulates the levels of calcium to protect against hyperactivity of the brain," explained Tafti. "The more you stay awake, the more
it is activated."
It rings an alarm bell in your head and tries to counterbalance the build-up, warning: "Be careful, calcium is trying to get in – you have to regulate it otherwise it's going to be toxic," he added.
"In animal models, sleep deprivation is lethal...It has never been tested in humans but long-term sleep deprivation would probably lead to death.