近日，法国里昂神经科学研究中心P.-A. Libourel等研究人员合作发现，筑巢的帽带企鹅通过数秒长度的微睡眠积累大量睡眠时间。2023年12月1日，国际知名学术期刊《科学》发表了这一成果。

研究人员报道了野生帽带企鹅在海上和南极筑巢时的脑电图睡眠定义，这些企鹅在筑巢期间一直面临着鸟蛋捕食者和其他企鹅的攻击。这些企鹅每天打盹超过10000次，进行双半球和单半球慢波睡眠，平均只持续4秒钟，但每个半球的睡眠时间却超过11小时。繁殖成功的企鹅在微睡眠方面的投入表明，睡眠的益处可以逐步累积。

据介绍，微睡眠是指通过闭眼和与睡眠相关的大脑活动中断清醒状态的几秒钟时间，这在驾驶过程中非常危险，而且可能因为时间太短而无法提供睡眠的恢复功能。如果微睡眠确实能实现睡眠功能，那么面临持续警觉需求的动物可能会采用这种睡眠策略。

附：英文原文

Title: Nesting chinstrap penguins accrue large quantities of sleep through seconds-long microsleeps

Author: P.-A. Libourel, W. Y. Lee, I. Achin, H. Chung, J. Kim, B. Massot, N. C. Rattenborg

Issue&Volume: 2023-12-01

Abstract: Microsleeps, the seconds-long interruptions of wakefulness by eye closure and sleep-related brain activity, are dangerous when driving and might be too short to provide the restorative functions of sleep. If microsleeps do fulfill sleep functions, then animals faced with a continuous need for vigilance might resort to this sleep strategy. We investigated electroencephalographically defined sleep in wild chinstrap penguins, at sea and while nesting in Antarctica, constantly exposed to an egg predator and aggression from other penguins. The penguins nodded off >10,000 times per day, engaging in bouts of bihemispheric and unihemispheric slow-wave sleep lasting on average only 4 seconds, but resulting in the accumulation of >11 hours of sleep for each hemisphere. The investment in microsleeps by successfully breeding penguins suggests that the benefits of sleep can accrue incrementally.

DOI: adh0771

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh0771