Banishing sleep: Modafinil as a lifestyle drug

Is being awake for 22-hours in a day going to become commonplace?

“The more we understand about the body’s 24-hour clock the more we will be able to override it,” says Russell Foster, a circadian biologist at Imperial College London. “In 10 to 20 years we’ll be able to pharmacologically turn sleep off. Mimicking sleep will take longer, but I can see it happening.” Foster envisages a world where it’s possible, or even routine, for people to be active for 22 hours a day and sleep for two.