why don't you guys talk it over while i'm sleeping

O_o


why does your body need sleep?

I've heard of truckers going bonkers with too much caffeine trying to stay awake and drive too much.


People can literally go insane from sleep deprivation. Why does this happen?

i think it has something to do with chemical buildup, either in your brain or in other parts of your body.
once it reaches a certain level you get sleepy and your body naturally tries to go into a state of mini-hibernation to allow the moving and dismantling of whatever chemicals are causing the problem

wiki article on the functions of sleep [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep#Functions[/URL]
basically the body needs sleep because certain hormone and brain chemicals increase or decrease based on wakefulness, and proper balance of them is essential to health.
also the body heals and recuperates more effectively during sleep and some people think that dreams are needed for memory processing.

edit: not sure why link wont work

This post was edited by mimnock on May 21 2009 11:48am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia

Sleep deprivation can kill you.

But seriously, no one knows exactly why we need to sleep, except that we do. A lot of people think it has to do with processing the information from the day, or letting the brain rest.

I've always thought that we need sleep because being awake (responsive to your environment) uses up a certain chemical or charge in the brain and to recharge/refuel the chemical/charge you need to sleep and by allowing yourself to sleep (Conscience state is disabled) something within the brain is blocked temporarily blocking your conscience state and allowing yourself to recharge and vice versa when awake, this "thing" is unblocked allowing yourself to be alert and aware and able to interect with your environment instead of doing subconscience things such as breathing.


G9 science only so I'm forced to philosiphize

There is no physical reason we need to sleep. No chemicals get used up, nothing needs to recharge. Your brain at the end of the day is the same as the one you wake up with structurally

We don't know why we need to sleep, my guess its like the debugging of a computer.

we need sleep to repair our body more efficiently

do fishes sleep?

O_o

Yes.

how long do fishes sleep?

does the depth in the water/ visibility make any difference?

its sleepy time for me