Why do we have to sleep?

C

CottonEyedHorn

1,000+ Posts
What do you think society would be like today if humans (and other creatures) did not require sleep? From an evolutionary or creation perspective, why do you think we were made this way?

sleep-deprived.jpg
 
Without sleep your brain cant recycle all the neurotransmitters that have been discharged throughout the day with your vigorous brain activity.

Sleep allows the neural synapses to scavenge the neurotransmitter "waste" and without sleep your brain becomes more and more dysfunctional as you "run out" of intact neurotransmitter molecules.
 
If I had one superpower, it wouldn't be flying or invisibility, it'd be the ability to get along just fine without ever sleeping.
 
From an evolutionary standpoint, I've heard that sleep came about because it was safer for us to sleep at night. Back in the day, the night was a dangerous time. Dangerous carnivores would prey on us and our ancestors. It made sense to go somewhere safe and sleep to stay out of danger.

I don't know how true that is, but it seems to make sense.

Same with naps. I've read that afternoon naps are natural for us. It's believed naps came about because it gave us a reprieve from the hot afternoon sun. We could go into the shade and sleep through it.
 
I'd love to have a 15-20 minute nap everyday or so.

Not just the brain but the entire body needs the rest.
 
The last thing I read, there was still a debate as to whether sleep was to allow the brain to regenerate neurotransmitters or sleep was an evolutionary tactic to keep us out of harms way during the dangerous night when predators hunted.

There are reports that Bucky Fuller, Leonardo da Vinci and some others only slept for 30 minutes, 4 times daily.
 
if they ever figured out a way to make it so we didn't need sleep....
i'd opt to sleep anyway.
 
Architecture school was indeed brutal, with the prerequite hallucinations and paranoia. Ahh, those were the days.

My problem with sleep, is that i am never tired enough at the end of the day to go to sleep and to get my 8 hours. So I end up getting 6 or 5. It would be nice if a full day lasted 28 hours:

20 hours of awake time, 8 hours of sleep time. Bliss.
 
Yeah I had a roommate in college that obnoxiously claimed he only slept 3 to 4 hours a night. Great line for thre girls, he did the tortured artist thing well. But when you are roommates, it is soon apparent the guy slept 8 hours plus, either that or he snored loudly while he was awake. And you would ask him how much he slept that day and get a report of 3 hours between 3 and 6 AM. Did you sleep this afternoon? He says "No, I worked on my music." He had no idea of course, I came in that afternoon, put a silly hat on his head and took pictures while he snored away on the living room couch. So take: "I only sleep 2 or 3 hours a day" claims with a grain of salt.
 
60 minutes had a great piece on this regarding why sleep is so important (you can watch the whole segment from the link below).

The Link

whatever the reasons for why we need it, it seems clear that cleep is absolutely necessary for solid brain/body function.

eye-opening, to say the least (poor pun not intended).
 
The longest I ever went without sleeping was when i was working on offshore oil rigs.
 
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