The curious link between animal hibernation and ageing – and what humans could learn from it
This long, deep rest is an example of how nature develops clever solution to difficult problems.
- This long, deep rest is an example of how nature develops clever solution to difficult problems.
- In this case, how to survive a long, cold and dark period without much food and water.
- You will also find descriptions in Inuit Greenlandic stories of a prolonged hibernation-like sleep during the long dark winter months.
Animals and hibernation
- Animals that hibernate usually live longer compared to other species of the same size.
- Recent studies using epigenetic clocks, which map activity within genes over time, suggest that hibernation slows down ageing in marmots and bats.
- So hibernation may hold important clues on how to slow down ageing processes.
- New science based on epigenetic clocks and lessons from hibernating animals could help us to treat patients who have diseases driven by “wear and tear”.
- A 2018 study found that mimicking hibernation conditions for the storage of renal grafts from deceased donors seemed to improve their preservation.
Animals and longevity
- It seems like protection against inflammation, oxidative stress and modifications of proteins that happen with age are mechanism that in general benefit all long-lived animals.
- Genetic studies of rougheye rockfish, which can live for over 200 years, suggest that a food group called flavonoids is related to longevity.
- Lessons from nature and hibernating animals tell us that preserving cells, regulation metabolism and genetic adaptions play key roles in longevity.
Forty winks
- For example, a March 2023 study showed that with good quality sleep, you can add five years to the life of men and two and a half years if you are a woman.
- How elephants can become so old while sleeping so little is still a mystery to scientists.
Peter Stenvinkel receives funding from Astra Zeneca, Fresenius, Baxter, Novo Nordisk, Bayer, Invizius, Vifor for lectures and scientific advisory boards