Why do we need sleep? Scientists couldn’t really explain why one needs to sleep. When we are awake long enough and no rest or sleep, we are vulnerable for any major complications.
In November 2015, in one of her TED Talks, Claudia Aguirre’s talked about what would happen if you didn’t sleep. She talks about why a person should have at least seven or eight hours of sleep. In the beginning of her speech, she talks about Randy Garner, a 17-year-old high school student who decided and go without sleep for 11 days in 1965. During his second day his eyes stopped focusing, and lost his ability to identify objects by touch. On his third day, he was uncoordinated and his mood changed. By the end of his experiment, he had trouble with short term memory, had trouble concentrating, had hallucinations and became paranoid. After going back to bed, he recovered without psychological or physical damage. In other cases, long-term sleep loss can result in hormonal imbalance, illness and in extreme cases, death.
Sleeping is very essential to humans and other life forms. During the day, we used up so much energy which makes our adenosine rise up. This is also known as sleep pressure where it urges us to sleep once this builds up. Caffeine helps block the adenosine’s receptor pathways.
When melatonin and adenosine builds up in our mind, we go to a light doze which grows deeper making breathing and heart rate slower. Once our muscles are relax, our bodies will have a chance to replenish and repair DNA.
Our glymphathic systems cleans and removes the buildup in our system. This usually occurs active when we are asleep. During our slumber, our brain still works to clear out our daily waste and flushes down toxic byproducts that accumulates between our cells.
So if you’re having trouble sleeping or you’re having sleep deprivation, overdosing yourself with drugs won’t help. Take the right medication which are prescribed. Don’t over think or tire yourself out for it can cause other complications.
We may think we can handle it all, but we can’t. We’re not superhuman nor a god. Our brain can only do so much. So why do we need sleep? What do you think?
