Why Do We Need to Sleep?

Source: http://brainblogger.com/2016/05/15/why-do-we-need-to-sleep/

There is no doubt that sufficient sleep is needed for good health, and it is well-known that severe sleep deprivation can greatly harm our bodies. Indeed, it is immensely challenging to sustain a state of wakefulness for more than a week as we would imagine, and common physiological changes induced by sleep deprivation include impaired cognition, mood swings and even temporary losses of consciousness.

Why exactly we need to sleep still remains unclear, despite the fact that we spend approximately one-third of our lives doing it. To date, it has long been believed by scientists that sleep is a means by which the brain can “re-balance” itself.

The main idea, which has been the general consensus, is that learning and developmental processes largely take place when we are awake, and this in turn eventually saturates the brain because our neurons get overexcited. Hence, it wo…

Source: http://brainblogger.com/2016/05/15/why-do-we-need-to-sleep/

There is no doubt that sufficient sleep is needed for good health, and it is well-known that severe sleep deprivation can greatly harm our bodies. Indeed, it is immensely challenging to sustain a state of wakefulness for more than a week as we would imagine, and common physiological changes induced by sleep deprivation include impaired cognition, mood swings and even temporary losses of consciousness.

Why exactly we need to sleep still remains unclear, despite the fact that we spend approximately one-third of our lives doing it. To date, it has long been believed by scientists that sleep is a means by which the brain can “re-balance” itself.

The main idea, which has been the general consensus, is that learning and developmental processes largely take place when we are awake, and this in turn eventually saturates the brain because our neurons get overexcited. Hence, it wo…

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