• Question: Why do we need to sleep? What does it do for us?

    Asked by to Edward, Ian, Mathew, Naomi on 25 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ian Stephenson

      Ian Stephenson answered on 25 Jun 2014:

      It’s not exactly well understood, and “why” is always a bit of a tricky question, but we can get an idea by looking at cases of extreme sleep depravation – obviously you get REALLY tired, but more serially you start dreaming while you’re awake, and hallucinating stuff!

      So aside from just resting, the brain also needs a chance to somehow reset itself, and prepare itself for the next day.

    • Photo: Naomi Osborne

      Naomi Osborne answered on 25 Jun 2014:

      Like Ian said, we still don’t know exactly why we sleep, but the fact that all animals do proves it’s very important.

      Scientists think that when we sleep our cells are restored and repaired – when we’re awake our cells become damaged through metabolism and sleeping gives our body some rest time from this.

      Our brain is also still very active when we’re asleep – which is why you dream. It’s thought that it’s processing information, forming and deleting memories when we sleep.

      And sleep is also very important for our immune system – people who don’t sleep very well can become ill.

      So sleep is very important – a good excuse to have a lay in at the weekend 😉

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