Veronique Greenwood's Why Do We Need To Sleep?

In my paper, I will tackle insomnia from various perspectives: definitions, types, causes, effects, and means of solutions.

Sleep has been linked to many different theories of why we sleep. One of the first ever Theron 's the inactivity theory, this describes sleep as protection from predators or ourselves. On other theory is that it is to conserve our energy, it states that sleep is so that your body uses the least amount of energy as it can. The next theory is the restorative theory, the restorative theory is nothing too new it says that the body sleeps to fix and restore body so that it could get ready for the next day. The last theory is the newest and most in depth description, it 's in the brain plasticity theory. The structure of the brain has been found to form as you sleep. It showed in an infant 's brain a baby sleeps 13 to 14 hours a day in which most of their brain forms. It will help them remember and become smarter, so how can it affect learning.

“Why do we sleep?” is a very popular questions that many humans ask today. Sleep is very sufficient to the human body. If it was not important, then God would not have designed for a third of our life to be occupied by sleep. During this time period, many people are interested to know what is a good amount of sleep and what are the harmful effects to not getting enough sleep.

In my opinion, sleep is very valuable to high school students and the writers are right in some of the aspects. For example, they are right when they say “good sleep is a fragile creature” (qtd. Shawn Stevenson) in my view it is, but some tips that are given in this article are hard to do. For example, the article reads “So chill on the screens.” They say this because they are informing us that when you are on your screen like your

It is no secret that, similar to other animals, sleep is one of the most important things for a human being’s overall health. According to Watson and Breedlove, there are four main biological/neurological functions of sleep: energy conservation—the body uses less energy when it is asleep through what is called slow-wave sleep (SWS) by doing things such as reducing body temperature and slowing respiration; niche adaptation—the environmental happenings to which organisms are adapted to; body restoration—it restores materials used during awake hours; and memory consolidation—SWS and REM sleep help the brain consolidate memories from the previous day (2012).

Not many courses introduce the idea of sleep, so it had only been a side interest. I was unaware of the seriousness of the problem and only wanted to understand sleep disorders because I’ve dealt with insomnia myself. Not until college did it occur to me that sleep was serious enough that studying sleep was a profession. However, school has only taught me the minimal basics of sleep. I wanted to understand the mechanism, the consequences, and the treatments for sleep. Unable to get a better idea of sleep, I aimed to learn more about sleep research. Eventually through graduate research, I would like to focus on understanding sleep and its application in improving health.

The average human spends about 25 years of their life sleeping. That is equal to one-third of a person’s life. So if sleep is vital and common among every single human, what do you know about it? What happens when we sleep (Attention Grabber)? Before the 1950s, scientists believed that the brain would just “shut off” when we would go to sleep. It wasn’t until the discovery of the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) state that scientists really looked into what happens in the brain while we are asleep. Studies have found that we go through a cycle of stages during sleep, and it is important for our health (Orientation to Topic). Today, I am going to inform you about what really happens when we sleep, and some issues that are found among it (Specific Purpose). In order to really understand this worldwide commonality, you need to know some background on sleep, the stages in the cycle, and some common disorders (Central Idea). I have taken a year long psychology course that went into depth on sleep psychology, and I have done extensive research on the topic to better grasp it (Statement of Credibility). I want to inform you on sleep so you can understand what happens when you close your eyes every night, and so you can detect any irregularities in your sleep pattern (Statement of Goodwill). First, I will give a background of why and how we know to sleep, then I will explain the stages in the sleep cycle, and finally I will tell you about some common disorders (Preview).

The reason humans need sleep is not fully understood, but it is seen to have extremely important functions and can cause serious effects if individuals do not get enough sleep. Sleep disorders have been seen to cause serious side affects on individuals, especially those who work twelve-hour shifts or shiftwork. The purpose of the paper is to explore sleep disorders and possible treatments.

This article has to do with me personally because sleeping is my favorite thing to do, and if sleeping was a struggle, completing tasks would be complicated for me. Sleeping is satisfying for the mind and body. To be human and sane, sleep is a necessity to make it through life. In paragraph four it says, “The point of sleep, after all, is that it is supposed to restore energy, and hope. It makes you alert enough to do things and optimistic enough to believe

We tend to think of sleep as a time when the mind and body shut down. But this is not the case; sleep is an active period in which a lot of important processing, restoration, and strengthening occurs. Exactly how this happens and why our bodies are programmed for such a long period of slumber is still somewhat of a mystery. But scientists do understand some of sleep's critical functions, and the reasons we need it for optimal health and wellbeing.

“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.

On the importance of sleep, Dalai Lama quotes "Sleep is the best meditation." A sound sleep is a key to overall health. Lack of sleep affects mood, increases the risk of psychiatric disorders and depression, cardiovascular diseases and also lowers immune system health. Sleep is utmost important for our body to rejuvenate after the day's exhaustion. And as researchers acquire more knowledge about its purpose -and the adverse side effects of not getting enough- the significance of getting a goodnight's sleep becomes even more comprehensible.

Sleep is a basic human need, it affects how we function on a daily basis and is essential for a person’s health and well being. Sleeping allows the body to recharge and affords the brain the opportunity to integrate important facts, memories and emotional impressions recorded from the previous day. There are five stages of sleep that people go through: Stages one, two, three, four, and Rapid Eye Movement (REM). Sleep is important for all human beings but the amount of sleep each person needs is dependent on many different factors, for example age. Infants generally need sixteen hours of sleep a day, teenagers need about nine hours, and for most adults, seven to eight hours a night is ideal. If people do not sleep enough for several nights they

Moreover, many of the claims the article makes, as outlined above, have a biological and psychological scientific basis; however, the article fails to mention the sources from which its conclusions was drawn from. That said, in this paper three differing journal articles will be presented that focus on the different processes that take place during sleep. The scientific journal articles will be analyzed and compared to the Cosmopolitan article. as summarized above.

Sleep is a curious occurrence. It is a process that occurs only with time, a suitable environment, and willingness to do so (Helvig). Everyone has to sleep; however, not everyone’s sleep is the same. “In adult studies, it has been pointed out that no exact amount of ‘optimal’ sleep exists” (Dewald-Kaufmann 172). This would suggest that everyone has a different length of sleep they must achieve. If they do not, they will experience negative symptoms that develop exponentially over time (Dewald-Kaufmann 179). This works conversely, also, that a good night’s rest can aid the human body in many ways. Even though this is a simple concept to understand, it is a difficult concept to explain. One huge question that no one has been able to definitively answer is: why do we sleep? Perhaps the best way to answer this question is to look at the effects of a surplus of sleep and a lack of sleep.