Sleep is important. Okay, maybe eight isn't the magic number anymore, but sleep is important. Now, it seems that medical research into the nature of sleep is paying off as the UK Daily Mail reports scientists are working on a "Sleep Machine."

It is not made of magic sand and run by a guy named Sandman.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison believe that it is possible to induce or "stimulate" the brain into going to sleep mode. It revolves around making the brain produce "slow-wave activity" which is typical of deep, non-dream state (no rapid eye movement or REM) sleep.

These researchers used harmless magnetic pulses to produce these waves. The effect is to produce a deep-sleep power nap, equivalent, they say, to the restorative effects of eight hours of rest.

There is some skepticism regarding its therapeutic use. One sleep expert contends that the real challenge is getting insomniacs to sleep in the first place. Although this is the claimed objective of the U. of Wisconsin-Madison research, perhaps the contention is that it's not enough to simply trigger slow-wave activity and induce the effects of sleep... The patient has to actually sleep in the first place and not merely simulate it.