Eli5: Why do we need to sleep so much, what happens in the body when asleep that cannot happen while normal resting or relaxing? Or is it just for the brain?
In: Biology
The question should be the other way around:
Why are we awake so much?
Being conscious and awake takes a lot more energy than sleeping. We have evolved to be awake just long enough to do all the things we needed to do to survive: hunt, gather, eat, mate, etc.
What’s it like to “notice” while you’re deeply asleep that you uncomfortably twisted one of your joints and then, without waking up or disturbing your consciousness, automatically adjust your sleep position to fix it?
Creatures such as [Jellyfish and bugs](https://animalhow.com/which-animals-do-not-sleep-5-species/), have such simple minds, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that they do everything “unconsciously” — sorta “sleepwalking” 24/7 in effect.
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