However, Darpa scientists are claiming that they have found a drug to eliminate sleepiness:

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.

The treatment is “a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign,” said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. “It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess.”

Source: Wired

So much for solving sleep deprivation but it is hard to imagine a person without an ounce of sleep. Drugs are know to help, but this discovery seems to need more support and tests for it to be a good discovery for sleep deprivation.

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