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Sleep, The Mysterious Lifeline

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Sleep, The Mysterious Lifeline On average, humans spend at least one-third of their lives asleep, adding up to around 26 years for a typical lifespan(“stud”). Although scientists have yet to find a reason behind the necessity for humans to sleep, it is an essential part of all human lives. However, scientists have been doing extensive testing for years, and have resulted in many credible hypothesis on why humans must sleep. Contrary to what would be expected considering sleep consumes a great deal of human life, sleep problems are one of the most common complaints that doctors hear from their patients (“stud”). Not attaining enough sleep repeatedly can cause major effects on a person, and even result in death when extreme. The most commonly thought of reason for why humans need to sleep is simple: to replenish energy that was previously expended throughout a normal day. This being correct, there is still more to this hypothesis than for a person to just simply “rest”. For example, there are many parts of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex which is constantly working other than when one sleeps. That is because certain parts of the brain, like this one, are working even when a human is simply sitting on the couch relaxing. Therefore, without sleep, parts of the brain like the prefrontal cortex would become overworked and eventually cease to function properly (“The Sc”). Laboratory tests on both humans and animals show that the performance of a certain task correlated

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