Sleeping
Have you ever considered why it is that we spend on average one-third of our lives asleep? That might seem a ridiculous question but apart from the obvious thing that we need to rest our body from the days activity what other reason do we have to make us want to sleep? Do our bodies actually need the on average eight hours sleep we take? The amount of energy we save by sleeping is very small indeed and nothing like the expenditure of energy we use during our waking hours. One thing is certain, without sleep we find it difficult to concentrate or to do the simplest of tasks sometimes and our health suffers in many ways. Scientists believe sleep deprivation may cause serious health problems if allowed to continue for long periods. Sleep is essential for brain development and cognitive skills, basically everything the brain is used for. There are many things we don’t know about why we sleep but many suggestions as to why have been proffered as likely reasons such as brain maintenance and housekeeping both physical and non-physical, a sort of clean up period that is needed each day. Perhaps all these suggestions are true, perhaps we were all designed this way. Our cars need maintenance so why not us? One thing is certain we are not the only creatures on this planet that needs sleep most if not all need time out! One way of looking at it is that if we don’t get the sleep we need we begin to suffer for it and the effect is almost immediate. Eventually we succumb and find ourselves drifting into never-never land dreaming our cares away. How much sleep do you get? Do you find you don’t operate as efficiently when you don’t get enough? I know I don’t. I like sleep for another reason too, I like dreaming.
Shirley Anne
Related articles
- How Do You Make Time For Sleep? (sleephelpdesk.wordpress.com)
- Are you getting the sleep you deserve? (yourtodaypublications.wordpress.com)
- The Dangers of Sleep Deprivation (visual.ly)
- Sleep Deprivation Effects: 8 Scary Side Effects Of Too Little Shut-Eye (huffingtonpost.com)
- Sleep deprivation plays havoc with genes (abc.net.au)
