I’m not sure if anyone actually knows the full answer for this question, but are there any widely excepted theories about what sleep does?
In: Biology
No one really knows the answer currently as to why we need sleep, know that we absolutely do need it, you can die from sleep deprivation, but for exactly why we don’t really know yet
We know that it gives our brains time to rest, and it could be as simple as that, that our brains require time to shut off and reset themselves. And as of right now that answer, your brain, a big biological computer, just needs time to shut off and reset itself.
Well the most accepted theory is sleep is a time of repair and reinforcement. Immune responses are somewhat boosted by sleep, that’s why the best thing for a fever is bed rest. during puberty, sleep is when your body is stimulating the most growth. Also while you’re asleep your brain goes over the memories you’ve formed. Making more connections for important memories, and pruning the connections for less vital memories.
There are two different questions. Why do we sleep and why does sleep make us less tired.
While we are awake our body produces a specific chemical. It measures that chemical to determine how long we have been awake. Our body makes us sleepy based on how much of that chemical is in our body. When we sleep that chemical breaks down. When we wake up we have less of that chemical so our body does not make us sleepy.
Caffeine makes it so our body does not detect that chemical. So caffeine tricks our body into thinking we just woke up.
The chemical is only used as a timer. Our body does not need it for anything else. It is just used to make sure we sleep regularly.
Why we need to sleep regularly is unknown.
Personally, I have no idea, but I’m reading a book titled “Why We Sleep” by Dr. Mathew Walker, because I had the same question. I haven’t finished the book yet, so I’ll just quote a snippet from the inside cover.
“Among many other functions, sleep enhances our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite.”
There is chemical called adenosine that is waste product that is generated through out the day. Adenosine binds to its receptor and causes us to feel sleepy. In fact caffeine works by blocking adenosine from binding thus we no longer feel sleepy.
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