As you can see by the title, something that has fascinated me this week was stumbling upon a study about sleep. Every study you look at about sleep, there are still gaping wide questions and many “if” “and” or “but” insights attached to this study but the giant question we all want answered is “Why do we sleep?!” As sad as this answer may be, it still has yet to be determined. The body organism is such a complex system filled with veins and nerves and organs, that a lot of questions, are still unknown.
Many people who research this topic, like to compare it to other necessities our bodies need to continue the regulation of our health and keep us alive. Some of these comparisons range from eating to breathing, both things our bodies naturally regulate, to maintain our daily functions. Just how when our bodies tell us it’s time to eat, by sending less than desirable hunger cravings in our stomachs, when we need to sleep our bodies tell us by the way it reacts.
- Eating = full
- Drinking = quenched
- Breathing = balanced
- Sleeping = rejuvenated
We all can agree that when we wake up from a long and deep sleep, we feel rejuvenated and our functions feel replenished. This is because this IS happening when we are asleep. When we sleep one of the big things happening is our cells all over our bodies (hair, skin, nails, etc) are growing anew.
In other studies, there have been a few theories. These theories consist of the Inactivity Theory, Energy Conservation Theory and Restorative Theory.
Inactivity Theory:
Although there are a few valid arguments that have come to the surface against this theory, it is still most certainly possible. It’s believed that we adapted sleep for the reason to protect ourselves, mostly at night time. Some predators hunt in the night and it’s believed that instead of moving around and being active, this state of being still and in a trance of sleep, served as a protective instinct we learned. Many believe that this ties in with the reason we sleep at night is because those active in the day, as it is hard to say were to be injured more and not as alert, due to our inability to see in the dark, therefore we slept.
Energy Conservation/Restorative Thoery:
Another two theories that tie into each other are pretty self explanatory in that we sleep because we restore the energy and things our bodies burned up and used during the day. During this deep sleep, we conserve our energy so that when we wake up, we can perform at our bests whether that be school, hunting, exercising and etc.
Sources:
http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/
http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/10/gallery_monstersinc_05.jpg
The idea behind why we sleep is very underrated!! I’ve never actually pondered over it, it’s just something we’ve always done as humans. However, I can’t even imagine a day without sleep. I feel like we absolutely need it to function during the day. Wouldn’t we die without sleep? Various studies have been performed in an attempt to measure how long the internal organs can survive without sleeping. However, the studies are extremely dangerous: Terry Cralle, RN, a certified clinical sleep educator and educator claims that, ” When you go without sleep for 20 to 25 hours, your performance impairment is similar to that of someone with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 percent. At 36, 48, and 72 hours without sleep, your body and your mind begin operating in altered states that put your health, and your life, at risk.” This further displays the fact that sleep is a vital aspect of a living organisms life, and further supports the energy conservation/ restorative theory you listed above!
When I was younger I used to be able to pull all nighters all the time and be perfectly fine the next day but forget it, if I tried that now Id look like the walking dead, I wouldn’t even be able to function the next day! Wouldn’t you think its the opposite according to the Resortation Theory? Because when you’re little you’re always hyper, running around burning energy therefore needing more sleep (9-11 hours) to restore it. And, less as you get older(7-9 hours) because you seem to never have any energy as it is and sleep like a sloth.
But, what about insomniacs? How do they survive without proper sleep??
Insomnia is described as the difficulty to fall / stay asleep or sleep is “non-restorative” which defeats the whole purpose of sleep. I would like to see a study on people who get a sufficient amount of sleep vs. insomniacs and see the toll it takes on each individuals body. Id find that very interesting!
This is such a great and relatable topic to do in the midst of college students including me, feeling like they need to get some sleep. I remember when I was a kid I would never like going to bed early, and now I don’t get enough and always strive to go to bed as early as possible. I never knew all these specific terms such as the Energy Conservation Theory because it makes sense in the fact that I feel well rested after I sleep for a long period of time.