University researchers say pesticides keep bees from sleeping Shane McGlaun - Jan 22, 2021, 5:59am CST Scientists from the University of Bristol have conducted research that shows common pesticides can prevent bees and flies from getting a good night’s sleep. They say that just like humans, many insects need sleep to function properly. However, their sleep is impacted if they have been exposed to neonicotinoid insecticides, a common insecticide used worldwide. Researchers have shown those insecticides impact the amount of sleep taken by both bumblebees and fruit flies, which could help understand why important insect pollinators are disappearing in the wild. Researcher Dr. Kiah Tasman said neonicotinoids the team tested had a significant impact on the amount of sleep the insects got. If the insect was exposed to a smaller amount of the insecticide, such as it might encounter on a farm, it slept less, and its daily rhythms were out of sync with the usual 24-hour cycle of day and night.