Do Flies Sleep?

Have you ever wondered if flies sleep at night? Me either! But sometimes we stumble upon answers to questions we’ve never even asked. Thus was the case a couple of nights ago. On the advice of @reconnectnature, I was out trying to get some macro shots using a headlamp (which works surprisingly well, by the way) when I stumbled across a fly slumber party in the garden.

The Flies Sleep, Tonight

Pooping On My Kale?!?!

I guess it makes sense that they would hunker down somewhere for the night. Afterall, flies do navigate using polarized light, but these things were everywhere! There were at least a dozen on every kale plant. It took quite a bit to get them to move. I bumped their leafy bed with the camera a few times, and they still just sat there.

Caught Ya Snoozing!

I wasn’t sure if they were actually asleep or if they were just in an inactive state, so I did a little bit of research and found that flies do sleep. In fact, scientists have found that a fly's sleep actually cycles through periods of light sleep followed by deep slumber, much like humans. They have even begun to study the sleep of various flies and other insects in the hope that it will unlock some of the secrets of human slumber. It amazes me that we can learn so much about ourselves by studying flies of all things! Who knows? They may even help us find cures for things like dementia and Alzheimer's.

All photos captured using Canon Rebel T3; Lens Model: EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II (with a cheap screw on macro adapter); post processing performed using Darktable