If sleeping is so essential, how come we cannot really control it?

Question

Like the way we can control our muscles, or the way we can hold back peeing. How come we cannot control to fall asleep or to wake up?

In: Biology

Answer 1

We have some control over it. I can decide to take a nap, i can decide to stay awake till late.

Same as breathing, i can decide to hold my breath (up to a point) or decide to breathe faster manually.

But, the more essential a bodily function, the less active control we have over it. Our body/subcontious doesn’t trust us to handle it well. Which is probably true, we would forget to keep our heart beating or keep breathing and die.