when a person is ill, why does the body decide it can’t sleep even though the person is clearly tired and sleep would help them recover?
In: Biology
That depends on the illness, some actually will just have the person sleepy or outright pass out. The human body isn’t that smart, pain, for example, will jolt someone awake and keep them that way, because normally it’s something that needs to be taken care of and otherwise someone who ignores it either dies early or gets worse. It has not, and probably never will, evolved to adjust for modern life where someone likely already takes the necessary medication and turns off the receptor. The siblings of our ancestors who easily ignore such pain die in their sleep so such traits are removed, meanwhile someone losing a few hours of sleep in the modern day doesn’t die, so such traits are kept.
You can’t expect your body to work perfectly when you’re sick. Illness is a malfunction – you’re being attacked and things aren’t functioning correctly. Sure it would be nice if things were better or more logical when you’re sick, but why would one expect them to be?
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