Upon collapsing on my bed after my first class today and realizing how tired I was – but knowing I still had two readings to do before my next class – I wondered why it felt SO necessary for me to sleep at that very moment. My agenda was packed of important things to do, and the only thing my mind was focused on was sleep. I questioned to myself: Why do our bodies insist we sleep when we constantly have more important things to do? In the crazy and busy world we live in, shouldn’t our bodies have adapted by now to require less or no sleep so we can be more productive citizens?

One of the earliest theories of why we sleep, according to This Harvard Article, suggests the opposite. Early on in the evolutionary period, humans adapted to be inactive during the night in order to protect ourselves from harm since without light and adequate shelter, we were much more vulnerable. This behavioral strategy eventually lead to what we now know as sleep. However, it has been thousands of years since this adaptation originated. Aren’t our bodies supposed to gradually adapt to the current conditions we live in? We live in an age where nearly every person lives in a somewhat protective shelter, and we all have access to light at any time. In addition, most of us have some sort of job – whether it be going to school, teaching a subject, trying to cure cancer, or selling weed – we all have shit we need to do everyday. Yet, time and time again we find our “to do list” cut short because we simply do not have enough time in the day to complete all of it. This probably correlates to the fact that 1/4 of our life is spent SLEEPING. Imagine how productive we could be if all this time we spend essentially doing nothing was eliminated. We would be the smartest generation ever, the cure to cancer would be discovered in no time, and every high school student would be satisfied with their necessary pot supply. 

However, according to NBC News, this notion of no sleep making us more productive is most likely incorrect as our body needs to rest in order to sustain our body’s energy supply. A good analogy I found the comparison of our body to a car: A car cannot run smoothly forever. Eventually something will need to be fixed or it will need its oil changed. If you just let it go naturally, while it still may run, it will be very choppy and less smooth. Our body works the same way. If we go too long without sleep, eventually it will catch up and we will simply not function to our best ability. So even though we may be getting more work done by powering through with no rest, in the end it will be much less productive as the quality of our work will turn out very poorly. Therefore, sleep is necessary for humans to be productive citizens. 

 

Finally, the Science Channel explains that our minds are still processing information as we sleep. A good tip I have learned through a little bit of research is that studying before going to sleep is very productive, as our brain will review and reinforce the information as we’re sleeping. Remember this for the night of September 15th and you should be golden!