Cited by 232Sleep and Wakefulness ResearchCircadian rhythm and melatoninSleep and related disorders

Unraveling the evolutionary determinants of sleep

Open access
Joiner, William J.·2016·Current Biology

Abstract

Despite decades of intense study, the functions of sleep are still shrouded in mystery. The difficulty in understanding these functions can be at least partly attributed to the varied manifestations of sleep in different animals. Daily sleep duration can range from 4-20 hrs among mammals, and sleep can manifest throughout the brain, or it can alternate over time between cerebral hemispheres, depending on the species. Ecological factors are likely to have shaped these and other sleep behaviors during evolution by altering the properties of conserved arousal circuits in the brain. Nonetheless, core functions of sleep are likely to have arisen early and to have persisted to the present day in diverse organisms. This review will discuss the evolutionary forces that may be responsible for phylogenetic differences in sleep and the potential core functions that sleep fulfills.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.068

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  • Sleep as a whole is highly conserved; most mammals spend somewhere between 4 and 20 h sleeping.

    “Across the Tree of Life, sleep as a whole is highly conserved; most mammals spend somewhere between 4 and 20 h sleeping.26”
  • The observation of behaviorally and mechanistically conserved sleep-like states across animals strongly supports an early rooted sleep state rather than many instances of convergent evolution.

    “The observation of behaviorally and mechanistically conserved sleep-like states across the animal kingdom [6,7] strongly supports the possibility for an early rooted sleep state rather than many instances of convergent evolution.”

    From The Jellyfish Cassiopea Exhibits a Sleep-like State (2017) · cites this paper as [7]

  • The finding is the first example of a sleep-like state in an organism with a diffuse nerve net.

    “To our knowledge, our finding is the first example of a sleep-like state in an organism with a diffuse nerve net [7,8], suggesting that this behavioral state arose prior to the evolution of a centralized nervous system.”

    From The Jellyfish Cassiopea Exhibits a Sleep-like State (2017) · cites this paper as [7]

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Authors
Joiner, W. J.
Affiliations
University of California San Diego (US)
Corresponding author
Joiner, William J.
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2016-10
Volume
26
Issue
20
Pages
R1073-R1087
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2534346109
Cited by
232
References
210
Citations by year
2026: 36 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 1
FWCI
2.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • NIH (R01 NS072431)
  • Department of Defense (W81XWH-13-1-0102)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
Keywords
sleep evolution, sleep function, sleep duration
MeSH terms
Animals, Biological Evolution, Invertebrates, Sleep, Vertebrates

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