Thread: Sleep......

Why do we need sleep? What does it do for your body and mind biologically speaking? Is it necessary? Can you die from lack of sleep? Also why do different people work on different amounts. For example, I sleep about 3-4 hours a night. Every couple of weeks I might sleep for 10 and then I'm good on 3-4 again for a while. But I know people that can't function unless they have 10 hours every night. Does anyone know what could cause this?

will from what i know, everyone has a different amount that they need to sleep and some say that Albert Einstein and some other people sleep no more than 4 hours.

please correct me if i am wrong :-D

They usually say around 8 hours a night although curiously those who get 6 and 7 hours sleep a night live longer.
Sleep is regulated by clock genes which control the amount of sleep one gets a night, as you age the amount of sleep you get decreases.

Yes in animal models, they die from lack of sleep.
sleep increases cognition, assists permanent memory, and increases your decision making. Lack of sleep leads to problems with sugar metabolism and causes hypertension.

so is it though yr biological clock u get the amount of sleep?

thanks

Yes in theory, its not fully understood, but melatonin is secreted from the pineal gland and encourages sleep in the body, the reticular formation controls sleep in the brain. There is also an input from the visual system via the suprachiasmatic nucleus.
This is just getting to sleep

During sleep there is changing patterns in the brain waves, then you have REM and the brain fires differently. as the night progresses you go in and out of REM sleep and your sleep becomes less deep until you wake up.[/u]