Delta-sleep-inducing peptide, abbreviated DSIP, is a neuropeptide that is believed to be involved in sleep regulation due to its ability to induce slow-wave sleep. DSIP enhances REM sleep. REM sleep is characterized by a rapid eye movement. A number of essential physiologic functions are attributed to REM sleep. Functions include but are not limited to synchronization of biological functions, information processing, memory storage, and a variety of functions that are thought to have a role in equilibrium.Studies show that whenDSIP was given to patients with insomnia, it offered these patients better sleep and also a decrease in tension during the day and a greater tolerance to psychic stress. Patients using DSIP at night for sleep were shown to have improvements in their overall ability to cope with problems and emotions. One advantage of DSIP is that it induces sleep ‘naturally’. Additionally, DSIP does not extend sleep beyond the normal duration nor does it impair the normal sleep architecture. These unique traits are unlike all of the synthetic hypnotic medications that tend to alter normal sleeping patterns dramatically. Studies show higher alertness and better performance while the people using DSIP are awake. DSIP has been discussed as a pharmacological intervention to fight fatigue and sleep loss in military interventions. And if DSIP could enhance military performance, could it not also enhance athletic achievement?
How does DSIP work? No one really knows. The notion of a sleep factor has never really been accepted. Sleep is made up of so many different stages and is influenced by so many factors – many of which are still unknown – that almost any biologically active compound may be related to some stage or other in sleep.
“The theory of the origin of sleep which has gained the widest credence is the one that attributes it to anemia of the brain… The idea behind this supposition has been that, as the day draws to an end, the circulatory mechanism becomes fatigued, the vasomotor center exhausted, the tone of the blood vessels deficient, and the energy of the heart diminished, and thus is the circulation to the cerebral arteries lessened.” NATURE, May 5th, 1898.
