Why do animals and mammals shut down to sleep. Why can’t we keep active while the body repairs itself?

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Why do animals and mammals shut down to sleep. Why can’t we keep active while the body repairs itself?

In: Biology

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

At the end of the day, we don’t know. There are things that happen with memory processing during sleep (which is why dreams can be so hard to remember). It’s also a good idea for our bodies to shut down during dreams (which again, we don’t fully understand why we do that). Acting out dreams is a quick way to get injured so we don’t want to do that.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because when you sleep, everything slows down. Your blood pressure drops. Your body temp decreases. Your heart rate and breathing slows. Muscles relax. Your brain waves (mostly) slow. Etcetera. Similarly to when a runner stops to catch their breath bc doing so while running would be virtually impossible, this “lull” in bodily function allows things to repair. Your cells’ “energy” isn’t being used on other things, so they can focus on reparative tasks. Inflammation goes down, brain cells are renewed and repaired, and more.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Body repairs itself all the time but it’s more effective when you are sleep because you are not wasting your energy by doing anything else. It’s all about how much energy goes to repair your body and how much you use while being active.

Anonymous 0 Comments

There isn’t usually a survival benefit. That said, orcas and porposes sleep only half of their brain at a time. That let’s them remain active.