Sleepless birds more attractive
The study may also provide insight into the ongoing debate over the functions of sleep and its relationship to health and longevity in humans. Image: DmitryND/iStockphoto Birds that breed successfully in continuous Arctic daylight may challenge the view that decreased performance is a universal outcome of sleep loss.A study published in the journal Science may provide insight into the ongoing debate over the functions of sleep and its relationship to health and longevity in humans.Researchers, including co-author Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr John Lesku of The University of Western Australia, studied a population of shorebirds from the time the females were fertile until they were incubating eggs.Their multi-year study found that shorter-sleeping male pectoral sandpipers (so called because of distinctive chest markings) are more attractive to females than those that sleep more.Dr Lesku said the research was important because it questions assumptions about sleep, including that a fixed amount of daily sleep is...