A University of Wisconsin consciousness and sleep expert will soon receive a national award to fund further studies aimed at uncovering the mysteries of sleep. The university announced Giulio Tononi won the National Institutes of Health's "Pioneer Award" last week, becoming one of 13 scientists nationwide to win.

Tononi, a long-time sleep researcher, plans to work with UW students, the department of psychiatry and other faculty members to conduct extensive research in the field of sleep.

As a recipient of the award, Tononi will receive up to $500,000 a year over the next five years for his research.

"This award will try to foster very creative work," Tononi said. "I felt very fortunate as this is a unique opportunity for the entire group at UW."

Steven Barczi, UW associate professor of medicine and sleep medicine specialist, said it is important to increase knowledge regarding sleep.

"In the United States our lives get so busy and we are so driven to do things, our culture [becomes] extremely sleep deprived," Barczi said. "But what are the consequences of this?"

Scientific studies have proven sleep is crucial for every human being, but there is still ambiguity about why people sleep.

"Sleep plays a major role in body restoration, brain maintenance, development, societal issues, health and hormone growth," Barczi said, adding each body's organ systems are different when sleeping.

According to Barczi, animal studies have been performed where researchers deprive animals of sleep. After a period of time the animals lost their ability to regulate some important control centers of their bodies, and the same can occur in humans.

"Cognitive tests such as memory tasks are affected if you been awake more than 16 hours and the longer you stay awake, the more you start making mistakes," Tononi said. "On average people only get seven to eight hours of sleep a night to have a normal life expectancy, and if you get less or more then the average you will have a reduced life expectancy."

While it has been long understood that people's consciousness fades during deep sleep, scientists have yet to discover the neural processes to explain the phenomenon.

In a recent study, however, Tononi said he may have uncovered an important early step in explaining what occurs in the brain during alterations of consciousness.

"Consciousness requires that the brain integrates information," he said.

When the brain is fully conscious, different regions communicate with one another by sending signals across neural fibers. However, in the early cycle of deep sleep the communication lines throughout the cerebral cortex seem to have been cut as only the targeted areas exhibited any activity when stimulated.

"This is why a half hour after you fall asleep you may report that there was nothing there and you did not experience a dream, although late in the night you may report a vivid dream," Tononi said.

Tononi added at other stages of the sleep cycle, when the subjects were dreaming, regular neural activity resumed, implying that certain stages of the sleep cycle are associated with consciousness.

This research may lead to important developments in the treatment of different neurological and psychiatric disorders associated with altered states of consciousness.