Why Do We Need to Sleep? The Latest Fascinating Theories on This Mystery Phenomenon
by SixWise.com
With all of our advances in medicine and technology, with
millions of dollars invested in numerous research studies,
science still has not been able to definitively understand
the purposes behind the natural, inevitable act of sleep.
The exact reasons for why we do it, and why we do it for
so long, remain a mystery. Most of what we do know about it
comes from understanding it backward: though we don't know
why we sleep, we do know that when we don't sleep, our health
will soon suffer.
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Sleep is a natural, automatic part of life ... but
if sleep isn't so easy for you anymore, check out the
six tips at the end of this article.
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Sleep Helps to Restore Your Body
Like refueling a car or taking a drink of water, it's thought
that sleep refreshes your body and helps to restore the energy
that you've used up during the day. Says Dr. Neil B. Kavey,
director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Columbia-Presbyterian
Medical Center in New York City, sleep is the time when your
body is able to do repair work. Additionally, when we sleep:
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Muscle tissue is rebuilt and restored
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Growth hormone is secreted (this is important for kids
but also for rebuilding tissue in adults)
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Mental energy is restored
And because sleep is your body's time to repair, not getting
enough of it can impair your immune system and leave you less
able to fight off diseases. This is a major concern, especially
when you consider that 75 percent of Americans who responded
to the National Sleep Foundation's 2005 Sleep in America poll
say they experience symptoms of sleep problems including difficulty
falling asleep, waking during the night, experiencing fatigue
during waking hours or snoring.
If you belong to this 75 percent, you may want to consider,
along with reading the six sleep tips at the end of this article,
the Sleep
Easy CD. With guided sleep meditations by a leading meditation
expert (and contributing editor to SixWise.com) and music
by a renowned meditation music composer with 20 years experience,
this CD will help you find deep rest and sleep in just minutes
every night.
The Brain Never Sleeps
It was once thought that being awake was the natural state
of the brain, and that during sleep the brain would take a
rest and "shut down," so to speak. But now it's
known that, according to the Harvard Medical School, the
brain is always in an active state whether the body is sleeping
or awake (specific groups of brain structures control
the body's functions at different times).
We Need Sleep to Survive
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If you still feel tired when you wake in the morning,
experts say you need more sleep!
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One thing that no one is debating is that sleep is an absolute
necessity, but there even have been studies done to prove
it. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
while rats normally live for two to three years, those deprived
of all sleep only live about three weeks, and those deprived
of REM sleep (the stage of sleep when we dream and during
which it's thought brain regions used in learning are stimulated)
survive only about five weeks on average.
At the same time, the rats developed abnormally low body
temperatures and sores on their tails and paws. Researchers
believe the sores indicate a sluggish immune system and suggest
just how detrimental sleep deprivation can be to the immune
system of humans.
Sleep and Sickness
Ever notice how when you're sick you're almost always tired?
As it turns out, while fighting off infections our immune
systems produce powerful chemicals called cytokines that make
us sleepy. It's thought that this is the body's way of helping
us to fall asleep, during which the body is able to conserve
energy and other resources that the immune system needs to
fight the infection.
How Much Sleep Do We Need?
It's generally recommended that adults get between seven
and nine hours of sleep a night. The NIH gives these additional
recommendations:
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Infants generally require about 16 hours a day.
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Teenagers need about nine hours on average.
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Some people may need as few as five hours or as many
as 10 hours of sleep each night.
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Women may need several more hours of sleep than usual
during the first three months of pregnancy.
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If you've been sleep deprived for several days, you will
create a "sleep debt" that will need to be repaid,
meaning that you'll need to sleep longer than usual just
to function normally and feel rested.
Trouble Falling Asleep?
A past Sixwise.com article, Stress Keeping You Awake? These
six tips will help you sleep like a baby tonight.
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Create a relaxing bedtime routine.
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Keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark.
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Drink a cup of relaxing tea, like chamomile.
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Massage your feet.
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Stretch a bit before you lie down.
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Once you are in bed, listen to relaxing music or
a relaxation or sleep CD to help you "shift gears"
and relax into sleep.
While it's not known precisely why you need it, it is known
- by your own body most of all - that you do. In fact, adequate
and routine sleep is one of the most essential steps you can
take to improve your health.
Sources
National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
The
Mysteries of Time and Sleep
WFMY
News April 1, 2005
MSNBC
News