Many people think of the bear when they think of hibernation, but a bear does not have a very deep hibernation at all. They go into hibernation and their body temperature drops only slightly. The real winter sleepers are dormice, hedgehogs and bats, for example.
The special winter sleep
Over the past few months, these mammals have been eating tons of food so that they have enough fat reserves before hibernation begins. When they go to sleep, their body temperature drops drastically, to slightly above the ambient temperature. They turn off their stove. Furthermore, their heart rate slows down, they have hardly any brain activity and their metabolism is at a standstill.
How do the animals survive hibernation? How come they rejuvenate because of this? And why do humans not hibernate? Chronobiologist Roelof Hut and PhD student Lauren de Wit who research DNA damage after hibernation tell all about hibernation in the podcast Early Birds and Other Animals. You can listen to the episode in your favorite podcast app.
Man in hibernation
Skip a bad harvest year by going to sleep for a year. Surviving a space journey. Countering climate change. It would be quite useful if people could go into hibernation. Yet this is not the case – our bodies are not made for it.
We can learn a lot from winter sleepers. When the animals go into hibernation, a lot changes in the body. For example, the brain and lungs look different and are associated with human diseases such as asthma and Alzheimer’s. After hibernation, the organs look normal again, while in humans these kinds of processes are irreversible. Lauren de Wit: “Who knows, we might learn from the winter sleepers how we can treat these kinds of illnesses.”
Do you want to help the winter sleepers find a good place to sleep? Make sure that your garden is not too tidy, but that there are cluttered corners in which they can hide.
Chronobiologist Roelof Hut and PhD student Lauren de Wit tell all about hibernation in the podcast Early Birds and Other Animals. You can listen to the episode in your favorite podcast app.
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