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?

Question

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

Answer 1

This isn’t very ELI5, but during a normal sleep cycle, our brain shrinks, allowing for the cerebrospinal fluid in the brain to be “flushed” and we get new csf. People that don’t get enough sleep, really do have a “cloudy” brain. This is called the glymphatic system and there’s a red talk about it. We also have time for muscles and everything to repair