Insomnio, estrés y canabinoides
Sleep is a universal experience and a necessary ingredient to life. Young adult humans benefit from spending 8 h a day, every day, sleeping. While the function(s) of sleep is not completely understood, it is known that sleep is critical to the survival of the species. In humans, it restores alertnes...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2011 |
| País: | México |
| Institución: | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México |
| Repositorio: | Redalyc-UNAM |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:redalyc.org:58220785005 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=58220785005 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Medicina stress Insomnia endocannabinoids cannabinoid receptor 1 |
| Sumario: | Sleep is a universal experience and a necessary ingredient to life. Young adult humans benefit from spending 8 h a day, every day, sleeping. While the function(s) of sleep is not completely understood, it is known that sleep is critical to the survival of the species. In humans, it restores alertness, helps consolidate memory and «recharge» cognitive abilities which are impaired at the end of the activity-phase of the cycle. Humans who do not pay their toll to sleep, for one night, for example, experience difficulties maintaining wakefulness the next day. This condition may put in danger their lives, particularly if they work in the transportation industry (i. e. taxi cabs, truck or trailersdrivers, pilots and/or operating heavy machinery among many other activities). In the past, when humans were more exposed to predators, to be sleepy in the savannah was synonymous with dying. Interestingly enough, the maladaptive strategies exhibited by a sleepy subject (which put at risk his life), are reversed by sleep. It is widely believed that sleep has a restorative function. However, what precisely is being restored during sleep remains a topic of speculation and on-going research. Sleep deprivation in humans results in cognitive deterioration and increased sleepiness, which might compromise survival as aforementioned. It is known that in rats prolonged sleep deprivation leads to death. In humans, it results in sleepiness, decreased attention, compromises memory and learning skills, and may affect motor control. The negative effects of sleep loss are reversed by recovery sleep, which may show features of delta and/or REM-sleep rebound. In this context, insomnia is a condition with known negative consequences to the health of the affected individual and frequently conveys negative effects to the family nucleus and to society in general. It has been estimated that 9% to 15% of the adult population suffers from chronic insomnia. Psychophysiologic insomnia (or primary insomnia) is likely the most prevalent type of insomnia. |
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