Why Do We Need Sleep?

Sleep may seem like a passive activity, but during slumber our body is hard at work. The muscles repair themselves, the brain sweeps out waste and memories are formed. It also releases hormones that affect everything from our hunger to our stress levels. Sleep is vital to our mental and physical health, and it’s no wonder that people who miss out on it are at a higher risk of problems like obesity, depression and heart disease.

But why do we need sleep, and what is it about this process that makes it so crucial? Many of the answers to these questions have come from recent discoveries in neuroscience, chemistry and psychology. But it’s important to remember that just because science can explain something, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the only explanation.

Scientists have also studied sleep in a wide variety of animals, including fruit flies, zebrafish and mice. They have found that the body’s drive to sleep and wakefulness are regulated by a “biological clock” that works on a daily time scale. They have also discovered that the brain’s functions, including memory and emotion regulation, are affected by sleep deprivation.

The amount of time spent in each stage of sleep varies from person to person, but the majority of total sleeping time is spent in stage two. In this stage, the brain waves slow to a deep rhythm and muscle movement stops. This is the period of deepest rest, and it’s during this stage that we tend to dream. The next stage is REM, or rapid eye movements, which is characterized by high brain activity and faster heart rate. The REM cycle repeats the previous two, but with each successive cycle, the body spends less time in the deeper stages and more time in REM.

In addition to its psychological and physiological benefits, sleep is essential for the body’s immune system, hormone production, metabolism and blood pressure control. In addition, research has shown that a lack of sleep can cause serious health issues like obesity, heart disease and high blood pressure, as well as poor decision-making, learning and memory problems, emotional disturbances, and reduced attention and motivation.