How Much Do Rats Sleep?
WouterThe answer to the question “How much do rats sleep?” depends on several factors. Rats are naturally nocturnal, sleeping up to half the day. This is not necessarily the case for all rats, however. Some rats will adjust their sleep schedule so that they can be active during the day and sleep during the night.
Rats typically spend fifteen hours a day asleep and only nine hours awake. Their body weight is smaller and their metabolism is slower than ours, which means that they require more sleep to repair themselves. Scientists have been analyzing how much time lab rats spend asleep in a 12-hour period. The average time a lab rat spends asleep is about 15 hours.
In the day, rats are active and interact with their owners. However, when they are sleeping, they tend to make a lot more noise. That means that if you’re a light sleeper, you may want to invest in some ear plugs. Although rats do not have good eyesight, they do have other senses that allow them to perceive their surroundings. They can detect ultraviolet light, which increases dramatically at dusk and in early morning.
These findings suggest that the frequency of the sleep spindles increases during early development. However, the frequency of these cycles may be more variable among species due to differences in the topography of thalamo-cortical connectivity.
