In astudypublished Wednesday in the journal Nature Communications, researchers in Switzerland analyzed the pupils of sleeping participants.
With further research, doctors might one day use pupil activity to diagnose conditions such as sleep disorders.
These observations contradict the previous assumption that, essentially, the level of arousal during sleep is low.
A study participant with the device used to record pupil movements during sleep.© Neural Control of Movement Lab / ETH Zurich
The featured image in this article is not a stock photoit shows how they actually did it.
Our main concern was that the test subjects would be unable to sleep with their eyes open.
Overall, the participants pupil movement demonstrated that activation levels are constantly changing during sleep.
According to the researchers, the finding confirms a biological feature in humans thatprevious studieshad documented in rodents.
However, the study did not prove whether the locus coeruleus directly influences pupil dynamics.
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Others say it could fuel inequity and undermine democracy, among other possible unknown consequences.
