Why can’t we go to sleep on demand like how we are controlling other parts of the body?

Question

We can stop breathing when we want to. We can also “tell” our body to do what we want such as moving, holding, typing, etc. So why can’t we just “tell” our brain to go to sleep immediately instead of having to wait for it to fall asleep.

In: 826

Answer 1

There are many body functions we cannot control. You can stop breathing for a few seconds but you can’t hold your breath long enough to die no matter how hard you try. You can’t control your digestion or your heartbeat, and most other basic functions are also unavailable to you. Sleep seems to be one such basic function that your body won’t let you interfere with, probably because for a long time, it was a question of life or death: fall asleep in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you might get eaten.