We're not too sure why they do this.Īnd other current research says that sleep gives the brain the opportunity to flush out the various metabolic waste products created during the day. Some recent research points out that during sleep, some nerves send their electrical impulses in the opposite direction they normally do when you are awake. Other sleep scientists point to research that suggests that sleep replays and consolidates significant memories. This means that the next day, your brain won't be overloaded with irrelevant memories. Some sleep scientists claim the ultimate purpose of sleep is to prune or weaken brain connections that you have made while awake. On the other hand, if you don't get enough sleep (as happens to many shift workers), you suffer increased risk of heart disease and some cancers.īut why do we sleep? Almost certainly, it'll turn out that there are many different reasons - all of them correct to varying degrees. We also know that during sleep, the brain orchestrates the manufacture of many different types of molecules - proteins, steroids, cholesterol, lipid rafts, human growth hormone, and many more. In fact, when we sleep, networks in the brain undergo very organised patterns of activity - and use almost as much energy as when we are awake. But why do we get sleepy? And why after about 16 hours? Why not one hour, or 60 hours? But we also don't know simple stuff - such as, why do we sleep? Why do we spend about one third of our lives virtually paralysed, as well as blind and dumb? It makes sense that we don't understand difficult and complicated stuff like quantum mechanics and dark energy. Audio: Why do we sleep? (Science Online Audio).
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