Hurray to the new drug CX717 or amakine that has been developed to ward off sleep. Sleep deprivation and its effects on performance could now become a thing of the past.
The drug could indeed be a boon to shift workers, health professionals, military personnel and others who need to be alert through the day and night. The drug effects were studied in a group of monkeys to find out the level of improvement to perform tasks, even if they were deprived of sleep for a period of 36 hours. This deprivation is equivalent to 72 hours for humans.The performance level of the monkeys remained the same after the drug was taken. Surprisingly, there was no decline in the function as expected.
The mechanism of action of the drug is very different form the other stimulants, such as caffeine, which makes the subject hyperactive. What is all the more convincing is that does not prevent them from falling asleep once the work is completed.
Human trials have also been conducted regarding the safety and efficacy of the drug, yielding similar results. It is proposed to extend the study further into more specific disease conditions like Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s as targets.
The decision has been taken after considering the fact that the drug activated areas also correspond to the areas most commonly affected by the above mentioned diseases.
The use of the drug could prove to be very valuable in certain types of occupations like fire fighting where sleep is very minimal most of the time.
Advertisement
We often don't take enough care about how well we sleep. Nearly one third of our life is spent in sleeping. So it is important that we get enough quality and quantity of sleep to help get through the day. If you don't get this you will get run down.
