Public Library of Science opened today: http://www.plosbiology.org/
 
About the following: I heard from the author of the article who read
what I wrote.  He noted in part:
 
>I imagine that ferrets can adjust to disruption of their sleep cycle,
>but any long term adjustment might have health effects, as in humans
>who do shift work.
so make sure that ferrets can get their sleep and help them with dark
areas, noise control, etc.
 
It's known that not providing enough darkness can disrupt the melatonin
production of ferrets (and us as well) and that might have negative
health results.
 
Might sleep disturbances also negatively impact on their health, and if
so to what degree?
 
Apparently in rats it is known that sleep deprivation can kill more
rapidly than food deprivation, and that it results in weight loss and
possible internal heat loss.
 
Studies indicate: Amount of sleep needed increases with metabolic rate.
Amount of REM sleep correlates with the level of development at birth --
those animals who are less developed at birth have more REM sleep -- and
early on it appears to help in organization and development of effective
neurological systems.
 
There is a marvelous article on sleep in the November Sci Am which raises
a number of intriguing questions.  Remember that many of the concepts
below are still hypothetical, though there is strong support for some
of those.
 
REM sleep may serve multiple functions (i.e. a lot of what my notes are
on is still hypothetical).  The brain is more active so the animal can
respond more rapidly if suddenly awakened (There is a difference in
response time between those awakened in REM sleep and non-REM sleep.), it
apparently helps with neurological development, heart rate and breathing
become more irregular than during non-REM sleep (and if I recall right
there was a recent report on heart behavior which indicated that the more
predictable hearts are actually the more diseased ones though I don't
know if it is known whether being more chaotic is in itself good for the
heart or if it is only that the diseased hearts have less ability to cope
with variations in their own behavior), body temperature fluctuates more,
corpus cavernosum engorges (making me wonder about blood nitrogen levels
in REM sleep and possible beneficial results if memory serves of another
study), and it causes production in the brain to cease of some
neurotransmitters (which may allow the brain to not set down dream
recollections as real memories -- a question I've had for ages -- and
which looks like it might allow the neurons to have a rest -- allowing
them to remain properly sensitive to the neurotransmitters on waking and
avoiding the hazards and risks which having moods thrown out of whack
might cause (Ever wonder why lack of sleep might cause weird moods and
responses and what effects these could have in a worst case scenario?).
 
Non-REM sleep raises most of my questions if we might negative impact on
ferret health if we don't adjust their living environments so that they
are less disturbed by our activities and schedules.  Non-REM sleep
appears to be the time when the body engages in much of its self-repair
which apparently is why animals with high metabolic rates need longer
sleep since animals with high metabolic rates wind up with more free
radicals to remove, more compromised enzymes to replace, and other
repair work.
 
So, I really am wondering if it is even more important than for just
melatonin production that we do what we can to provide our ferrets with
places where they can snooze in darkness undisturbed (no loud music, no
shoveling them out every couple of hours, etc.) for a large portion of
every day (14+ hours) and if we don't provide that if we are undermining
their health.
 
I also have no idea if in asking them to alter from their crepuscular
(dawn and dusk) activity ancestral background if we might be making any
impact that way.  Like I said, I have a pile of questions but no answers.
 
Anyway, I think the article will interest many here, and perhaps some
people will find the questions intriguing.  We'll all know more
eventually.
[Posted in FML issue 4300]