“Why did you sleep in so late?” A question everyone has been asked and then abruptly replied with “I guess I was just tired.” But why were you tired? Well to be completely honest we don’t know for sure. But we do have theories on why we may sleep, including the: Inactivity Theory, Energy Conservation Theory, Restorative Theories, and the Brain Plasticity Theory. These theories are still very controversial for most scientists. Even though we don't know why, we do know it’s necessary to survive since its reflexive and it enables us able to function. The Inactivity Theory is one of the earliest theories on why we may sleep, it suggests that you sleep at night to keep you out of harm’s way from predators. It gives us an advantage to save energy …show more content…
Tests performed on these theories show that animals deprived from sleep suffer from a loss of all their immune system functions and inevitably die from this in only a few weeks’ time. Studies show that muscle growth, tissue repair, protein synthesis, and growth hormones are most active while you sleep, and even a few are only active while you sleep. While we are conscious and awake our brain produces a chemical called adenosine, this chemical is thought to be the cause of why we feel tired at times and feel the need to sleep, this chemical is countered by caffeine. That explains why you feel more awake and alert after drinking that cup of Joe. Caffeine actually blocks the receptors for adenosine making that feeling of being tired and not alert diminish. While you sleep it gives the body a chance to clear the adenosine from the system, in turn making you feel “refreshed” and not tired when you wake up from your slumber. The Brain Plasticity Theory is one of the most recent theories on why we sleep. According to this theory sleep is directly related to the changes in the structure, and organization of the brain. This process is known as brain plasticity. At one point researchers thought that brain plasticity stopped after the childhood stage in life. The effects of this process is it reshapes your brain and moves information from damaged parts of your brain to new, undamaged
According to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School (2007), if one does not receive an adequate amount of sleep one may become sleep deprived, one’s health may decline, the immune system may be compromised, and the ability to learn or complete tasks may become impaired. The question evoked from this necessity is, why do we sleep? Psychologists typically take two stances concerning this controversy: an adaptive stance or a restorative stance. While psychologists are still not certain on the answer, both the restorative and adaptive approaches have strong evidence of truth and actuality. Supporters of the adaptive theory of sleep believe that sleep is a result of evolution (Ciccarelli, 2015, p. 141).
When I first saw the article, I was hoping that it would have more information on why we need sleep and not how we maintain it. I did learn some things from the article, but not exactly what I wanted to portray from it. The article talks a lot about the different proteins and neurotic materials used for sleeping, but if that was the main point that they wanted to talk about in the article, they should have renamed it “What happens when we sleep?” because that is what is talked about. Overall, the article was factual, just with a very misleading title. I understand that the brain is a very confusing organ and that there is not a whole lot of information that is available to us at this time in our lives, and that in the future with our new technology, we should be able to receive more information on the brain and its many functions as a whole. Since this article was misleading, it is hard to give a full response on the topic at hand without repeating myself multiple times. Again, the article was factual and I did learn about some of the other neurotic materials for the complex adventure that we call sleep. In high school, I had only learned of adenosine and REM sleep. I did not know about the neurotransmitter, orexin or what an EEG was. The article helped me learn a bit more on these and now I am able to go out and teach my peers on what some of
Of the many automatic functions that the human mind is hardwired to perform, from blinking, to breathing, sleep is by far one of the most imperative. A process that allows mind and body alike to rest, recuperate, and repair, sleep is something that is truly essential for our continued survival, to an extent, as more than a day or two without it can have adverse and potentially crippling side effects. Without sleep, our brain operates at a far less advanced level, struggling to process and internalise information, and making less intellectually sound decisions as a result, demonstrating why a reasonable amount of sleep per night is something that everyone must strive to achieve, so that one can stay on top of the day to day challenges that life so frequently poses. However, as universal as the idea of sleep may be, there is one aspect of the process that is often
Sleep is a complex phenomenon, best understood as the product of two intertwined biological systems : the “sleep drive” and the “circadian alerting system.” The sleep drive is our biological “need for sleep.” The sleep drive can be thought of as a tank that empties and fills throughout the course of a day, like the gas tank in a car. When you sleep at night, the tank is “filled” with sleep. You awaken in the morning, refueled and ready to “drive through the day.” The longer you “drive” through the day, the more the tank depletes. By bedtime, the tank is on “E”; it is empty and you must sleep to replenish it. The sleep drive forces sleep, so that your tank can be refilled, and your biological sleep need is met.
As we all know, one third of our life is spent to sleep, but very few people intend to lay bare the secret of that. There would be a question: why do we sleep? According to the video "The Function of Sleep", Tyson states that people are not very clear about the purpose of sleep, but some researchers believe that sleep could enhance memory. MIT researcher Matthew Wilson also illustrates the thoughts of a rat can be read by implanted the electric wire into its brain. According to a special project "rat maze", memory not only affects the rat finds the way with same pattern, but also generates the main part of its dreams. The video also concludes that the function of sleep is learning and memory, and it is not just a
There have been countless numbers of studies investigating the function of sleep leading to various theories,
The most interesting theory that we have studied to me is the sleep theory. Most of the world really do not know the correct amount of sleep our body needs. During this study I realized there are distinctive stages and each phase of rest affects the various elements of the body and can influence a person’s volume to work not only mentally, but physically. Numerous individuals are uneducated on the significance of getting the best possible measure of rest. At the point when the body does not get enough sleep, many issues can occur. For example, memory misfortune, condition of misery, poor occupation execution and fractiousness any many others. Rest has been divided into different stages and each stage has an essential influence. Each stage is
This theory states that we sleep to protect ourselves at night. If we are still and quiet predators will not notice us while were sleeping.
Sleep is a natural state of unconsciousness and is one of the most important human needs. Sleep is also an active process which affects all parts of the body and cannot be replaced by anything else. There are some conditions which have to be fulfilled to differentiate sleep from unconsciousness – for example sleep occurs periodically and can be interrupted at any time. People also sleep one third of their lives and we can be awakened up by stimulation from sleep by stimulation. Similar to animals, the human body, is not capable of 24 hours of continuous activity. Sleep has also many functions. During sleep, the brain recovers its functions. It is essential for anabolic and somatic reparation processes and immune system repair as well as the proper functioning of memory (during the REM phase). During sleep, our body temperature decreases, our breathing slows down, muscles repair and blood pressure declines. If we don’t have enough sleep we can have physical and psychological problems. Sleep affects how we feel, look and how we performer on a daily basis.
Scientist are starting to understand how sleep affects us in many ways, they include; our daily functioning, physical, and mental health. (Stein 2005) A group of chemicals called neurotransmitters control whether we are asleep or awake. They do this by acting on
What exactly goes on in the brain during sleep? Nerve-signaling chemicals called neurotransmitters, control whether we are asleep or awake by acting on different groups of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain. Neurons in the brainstem, which connects the brain with the spinal cord, produce neurotransmitters such as serotonin and norepinephrine that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm). So why do we need sleep? Sleep is important to the essence of every person. Sleep offers the brain an opportunity to sort through new and old information, to find solutions to problems, and to archive memories. One of the essential roles of sleep is to help us solidify and centralize our memories. As we go about our day, our brains take in a very large amount of information. This information is not directly recorded, it’s rather that these facts and experiences first must be processed and stored; and most of this processing happens while we sleep. The brain reinforces memory and categorizes everything learned and removes any useless information. This paper will cover how lack of sleep can be detrimental to a person. The primary symptoms of sleep deprivation that will be discussed are dangerous health issues such as cognitive dysfunction, weight gain and physical health.
No one really knows why humans sleep, but it is said that they use less energy when they are sleeping. Many Americans do not get the amount of sleep they need to get, and this can affect their cognitive abilities. The cause of this sleep deprivation varies among individuals, but could be overscheduling or even technology. Many people may get the symptoms of sleep deprivation, but they ignore it, and this leads to harsh consequences. Sleep can play a vital role in making someone feel better, living a healthy lifestyle, and help them stay attentive.
We all know that after a good night of sleep we feel recharged and happier, and if having gone without sleep for a while we may end up cranky and most likely cannot function correctly. But why do we feel better after waking up from a deep slumber and feel worse without sleep? Why do our bodies need to shut down for such a long period of time? Unfortunately scientists are still trying to find this answer themselves. Although through a sufficient amount of research, scientists have found out how sleep greatly impacts our bodies, both physically and mentally, negatively and positively.
Sleep has always been a behavior that integrates itself into everyday life. In fact, we spend about one third of our life sleeping. Often times people take sleep for granted, but it is essential in order to feel refreshed. While we are sleeping, the hypothalamus regulates body functions. (Swann, 2013). Seven to nine hours of sleep is necessary for the brain to restore. Sleep is an important factor because it affects one’s health. The amount of sleep a person gets at night can affect their academic performance, number of accidents, amount of injuries, and an increase in the chance of obesity. (Noland et al, 2009). Numerous attributes that interrupt one’s sleep are sleeping disorders, the amount of stress in one’s life, alcohol consumption, caffeine intake, homework load, school hours, jobs, and management skills. (Noland et al, 2009).
Over the centuries, philosophers and scientists have attempted to explain the science behind sleep. They tried to offer explanations for how we fall asleep, what causes us to fall asleep and all together, why do we need to sleep at all. Although scientists have been