Orexin A: Please Hurry, We Need You

Ken sent over this Wired article which could prove to be the dawning of a new day. A new day, in fact, that we're not looking at through bloodshot eyes:

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

They call this a potential "sleep replacement" drug, which is good: because at this point anything would be better than what most of us replace sleep with. I'm speaking, of course, of aches, pains, bad reaction times, headaches, blurred vision, hallucinations...hell, the way some of us fall asleep at the drop of a hat, we're one step away from narcolepsy anyway. Read the entire article here.

I'd like to point out very quickly here that the Sleep Deprivation Institute does not actually want to eradicate sleep completely. No, no. We want to eradicate its mandatory nature. We fully advocate that napping can be a lovely pastime and that sleep should be a recreational thing, not something you are forced to do by fatigue. Maybe this will make that day arrive faster.

Of course, Ken is convinced that this is "The Stuff" and will be the Z-Day Event that sets us on the path to destruction. Only time will tell.

Image from Too Much Coffee Man by Shannon Wheeler, one of the artists who Understands.