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Why do we have to sleep?

Sleep is a basic human need

Sleep is a natural part of everybody's life, but many people don't realize how important it is and some even try to get by with little sleep. Sleep is something our bodies need to do, it is not an option. Even though the exact reasons for sleep remain a mystery, we do know that during sleep many of the body's major organ and regulatory systems continue to work actively. Some parts of the brain actually increase their activity dramatically, and the body produces more of certain hormones.
Scientists have proposed the following theories on why humans require sleep:
  • Sleep may be a way of recharging the brain. The brain has a chance to shut down and repair neurons and to exercise important neuronal connections that might otherwise deteriorate due to lack of activity.
  • Sleep gives the brain an opportunity to reorganize data, to help find a solution to problem, process newly learned information and organize and archive memories.
  • Sleep lowers a person’s metabolic rate and energy consumption.
  • The cardiovascular system also gets a break during sleep. Researchers have found that people with normal or high blood pressure experience a 20 to 30% reduction in blood pressure and 10 to 20% reduction in heart rate.
  • During the sleep, the body has a chance to replace chemicals and repair muscles, other tissues and aging or dead cells.
  • In children and young adults, growth hormones are released during deep sleep.
  • The circadian rhythm, a day-night rhytm of about 24 hours, determines wether a person falls asleep or wakes up.Circadian rhythms greatly influence the timing, amount and quality of sleep.
Sleep as well as diet and exercise, is important for our minds and bodies to function normally. In fact, sleep appears to be required for survival. Rats deprived of sleep die within two to three weeks, a time frame similar to death due to starvation.

An internal biological clock regulates the timing for sleep. It programs each person to feel sleepy during the nighttime hours and to be active during the daylight hours. Light is the cue that synchronizes the biological clock to the 24-hour cycle of day and night.
Some scientists claim sleep is the 'natural condition' for humans and other animals, while 'being awake' is seen as the condition where the body is actively searching for food, and a partner to mate and procreate. This theory, however, is a bit controversial and fairly obscure, but could be explained when having a look at the processes of the body. The long hibernation period that some warm and cold blooded animals spend, could be assigned to this. There's even a species of frog that allow their bodies to be frozen during winter and spend their time being inactive until spring when they thaw and continue their normal life. This could point towards the bigger need for sleep than being awake.
A lot of questions still remain unanswered regarding the sleep. Most theories refer to recuperation. In that respect, deep sleep is seen as beneficial to the physical consequences of the 'awake' period, and create a healthy metabolism. The dream sleep is said to be important for an emotional balance.

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