From Adrian Bowyer
The sleep-inducer oleamide may work by thinning the fats in cell lipid membranes
(“Ten, nine, eight . . . you’re under”, 20 March, p 34).
Its discoverer, Richard Lerner, speculates that it might also help to keep cell
membranes at the right viscosity when they get cold.
A friend and I, when in our teens, capsized a sailing dinghy in the middle of
Lyme Bay. There was a strong wind and a 3-metre swell, so when we had got it
righted it didn’t stay still long enough for both of us to get back in. As I
waited for my friend to tack back and pick me up, I started to get
cold—the only danger, given that I was secure enough in my life jacket. My
friend eventually reached me and we set out for the harbour. And, despite all
the excitement, I fell asleep in the bilges on the way back.
A common adjunct to exposure is sleepiness. Could this be caused by the body
synthesising oleamide to keep the lipid membranes at the right consistency,
triggering the sleep-inducing side effect in the same way as anaesthetics seem
to? Might it be possible to find a drug that did one and not the other, and to
put a couple of pills of it in the pocket of every life jacket?
Sadly, the discredited old remedy of brandy probably doesn’t offer quite the
right combination of characteristics to be reinstated.
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