Is getting 6 hours of sleep one night and 10 hours the next equivalent to sleeping 8 hours and 8 hours?

Question

Is getting 6 hours of sleep one night and 10 hours the next equivalent to sleeping 8 hours and 8 hours?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Sleeping is like showering for your brain. As you stay awake, your brain accumulates more and more waste. When you sleep, it cleans itself out.

If your previous cleaning session was too short (6 hr) to finish the job, you might need a longer (10 hr) cleaning session to get your brain back to pristine condition. But having a longer cleaning session for a brain that’s already sufficiently clean has diminishing returns, and doesn’t make your next cleaning session shorter.