Can a person hibernate and how would it be useful

What is hibernation in animals and why is it needed

There are two types of it. Hibernation, or hibernation, is the torpor of some animals. In the cold months, there is much less food, and in order to survive this time and not die of hunger, the body dramatically slows down the metabolism. So he can save energy until the moment when food becomes enough again. There is also summer hibernation - estivation. It is found in desert fauna and helps to survive extreme heat and dehydration.

In hibernation fall intoSome Animals Don't Actually Sleep for the Winter, and other Surprises about Hibernation / National Geographic cold climate bears, badgers, raccoons, small mammals such as dormice, hamsters, chipmunks, hedgehogs and bats. The only bird that has hibernation is the North American nightjar. Also, in adverse conditions, many freeze amphibians, insects and reptiles, but this happens differently with them, because the body is initially cold-blooded and depends on the ambient temperature.

In estivation fall intoT. Wang, L. Sun, M. Chen. Chapter 11 - Aestivation and Regeneration / Developments in Aquaculture and Fisheries Science desert animals, eg some small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, molluscs. Even lungfish take a break - they are smearedLungfish / Britannicaclay and wait out the heat in burrows. For large mammals, which include humans, summer hibernation is uncharacteristic.

Most animals are able to wake up for a short period to move around, go to the toilet or eat, and some do not move for months and may even appear dead. So, the longest hibernation was recorded in five dormouse dormouse in the Vienna Woods: they continuously slept for 11 months.

What does it take to hibernate

It is not known exactly how the body understands that it is time to minimize activity. It is believed that in the blood appearWhy Do Some Animals Hibernate? / Britannica specific trigger substances. During hibernation, they are produced in response to shorter daylight hours, lower temperatures, and a decrease in the amount of food, and during aestivation - when the air temperature, on the contrary, rises and falls humidity. These triggers act on the receptors, and the work of the whole body is rebuilt.

In 2020, two groups of scientists - from the USA and Japan - independently of each other and in different ways discovered that in animals There is 1. S. Hrvatin, S. Sun, O. F. Wilcox, H. Yao, A. J. Lavin-Peter, M. Cicconet, E. G. Assad, M. E. Palmer, S. Arson, A. S. Banks, E. C. Griffith, M. E. greenberg. Neurons that regulate mouse torpor / Nature
2. T. M. Takahashi, G. A. Sunagawa, S. Soya, M. Abe, K. Sakurai, K. Ishikawa, M. Yanagisawa, H. Hama, E. Hasegawa, A. Miyawaki, K. Sakimura, M. Takahashi, T. Sakurai. A discrete neuronal circuit induces a hibernation-like state in rodents / Nature special nerve cells in the brain that “turn on” torpor, slowing down metabolism. Hibernation is not like normal sleepwhen the body temperature hardly changes, and breathing becomes a little slower and deeper. During hibernation or estivation, the metabolic rate may make upSome Animals Don't Actually Sleep for the Winter, and other Surprises about Hibernation / National Geographic only 5% of normal, the body temperature drops, and the heart rate and breathing are greatly reduced.

So, in dwarf lemurs, instead of 300 heart beats per minute, less than 6 are recorded, and the breaks between breaths are more than 10 minutes. And gophers can have a temperature go downWhat is hibernation, how does it work, and which animals do it? / Discover Wildlife down to -2 degrees.

Can a person hibernate

When a trait is formed in some animals that helps them survive, it is passed on to their descendants. The pinnacle of adaptability to adverse times - hibernation - arose in the process evolution. Given the diversity of species that have hibernation, scientists have concluded that this mechanism appeared1. S. Hrvatin, S. Sun, O. F. Wilcox, H. Yao, A. J. Lavin-Peter, M. Cicconet, E. G. Assad, M. E. Palmer, S. Arson, A. S. Banks, E. C. Griffith, M. E. greenberg. Neurons that regulate mouse torpor / Nature
2. T. M. Takahashi, G. A. Sunagawa, S. Soya, M. Abe, K. Sakurai, K. Ishikawa, M. Yanagisawa, H. Hama, E. Hasegawa, A. Miyawaki, K. Sakimura, M. Takahashi, T. Sakurai. A discrete neuronal circuit induces a hibernation-like state in rodents / Nature in a common ancestor of mammals. This means that animals that are not characterized by prolonged sleep, including humans, can also have special nerve cells, just in an inactive state. Researchers even suggest that Neanderthals experiencedEarly humans may have survived the harsh winters by hibernating / The Guardian cold in hibernation, but it is not yet known exactly.

Maybe it's good that people don't hibernate. Our body is not adapted to a long absence of movement, and this would greatly harm it. Due to long sleep will appearD. K. Dittmer, R. Teasell. Complications of immobilization and bed rest. Part 1: Musculoskeletal and cardiovascular complications / Canadian Family Physician many problems: muscle atrophy, education bedsores, scarring in tendons, blood clots, blockage of veins and more.

Animals, on the other hand, have special mechanisms to protect themselves from complications. For example, in an immobilized person quickly developsP. Minaire. Immobilization osteoporosis: a review / Clinical Rheumatology Osteoporosis is the loss of calcium in the bones, which makes them brittle and begin to break even with little effort. And bears canturn offA. v. Goropashnaya, Ø. Toien, T. Ramaraj, A. Sundararajan, F. D. Schilkey, b. M. Barnes, S. W. Donahue, V. b. Fedorov. Transcriptional changes and preservation of bone mass in hibernating black bears / Nature» genes that regulate metabolic processes in bones, and therefore do not suffer from this disease after waking up from hibernation.

So first people need to figure out how to get around these difficulties, and only after that they can think about ways to hibernate.

How hibernation would help a person

Hibernation is needed not only for space travel. This process has huge medical potential. So, sometimes people accidentally found themselves in conditions close to hibernation when they fell into icy water or into a snow storm.

The British woman Audrey Schumann, together with her husband who suffered from hypothermia in the mountains, managed to runDoctors in Spain revive British woman after six‑hour cardiac arrest / The Guardian heart six hours after it stopped. The woman's body temperature dropped to 18 degrees, there was no pulse and breathing, she seemed dead. At the same time, her brain was not affected, because due to hypothermia, all metabolic processes slowed down and the body did not have time to feel oxygen starvation. If the heart had stopped at normal temperature, Audrey would not have survived.

So putting people into hibernation would buy time to travel to the hospital and get help. And a longer hibernation would be useful for those who are waiting for months for medicine or donor organswhen the resources of the body may simply not be enough for this period.