Sleeping. Why is this happening?

[Technosoul]

Moses can no longer force us to have a day of rest from labor, but we cannot stop our self from falling to sleep. Which can waste a lot of our time. But is it wasted?

Mostly all animals rest, even if they might not dream or whatever (not sure about fish and insects?).

Do we somehow recharge our batteries when snoozing, getting a new supply of energy? If so, from where do we get that energy re-supply just by taking naps?

[Gods_Mercenary]

There are many theories about sleep, and the question hasn't been fully answered yet. It's a great way to force you to rest, but no matter how much of a couch potato you are, you have to sleep anyway. It could also be a way to keep our ancestors inactive at nightime when the most dangerous predators were generally out, but then why do we make it up if we miss some? I think there's a myriad of reasons, giving us time to grow and repair muscle/ heal other parts of our body, for example, when we wouldn't sit around still for that long otherwise.

[Jack]

All kinds of interesting research being done...Polyphasic sleep.

[another day]

Waste time? Time for what? We all die eventually. Time is only useful if it aids in your survival, which sleep does. Thus sleep is no waste of time.

[Jack]

I think the idea is that less sleep time, more awake time, had we evolved in that way, would have given us more aware time, more time to be conscious.

I used to complain that nature appears to not be content with having given us relatively short lifespans compared to the universal time scale. We are also obliged to spend one-third of our lives sleeping, unless blessed with insomnia.

So we have ended up being incorporeal for billions of years prior to our birth, live for only two-thirds of a momentary life, then return to non-existence forever/until something else happens.

That sucks if you happen to enjoy your life.

[Tycoon]

I think the idea is that less sleep time, more awake time, had we evolved in that way, would have given us more aware time, more time to be conscious.

Exactly.

I used to complain that nature appears to not be content with having given us relatively short lifespans compared to the universal time scale. We are also obliged to spend one-third of our lives sleeping, unless blessed with insomnia.

I still do complain about it.

That sucks if you happen to enjoy your life.

I enjoy life, as much as it sucks. Even the bad moments are worth experiencing. I just know that I am going to die crying.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I just know that I am going to die crying.

I hope to die laughing my ass off and giving the world the finger, but that's just me

[Lullaby Chainer]

Quote by: Technosoul Moses can no longer force us to have a day of rest from labor, but we cannot stop our self from falling to sleep. Which can waste a lot of our time. But is it wasted? Mostly all animals rest, even if they might not dream or whatever (not sure about fish and insects?). Do we somehow recharge our batteries when snoozing, getting a new supply of energy? If so, from where do we get that energy re-supply just by taking naps?

It's not wasted.

In delta sleep (stage 3 and 4), our body's chemical supplies are replenished, growth hormones are released in children, and our immune system is fortified. Delta sleep deprivation makes people more susceptible to illness. Memory (storage? sorting?) is usually associated with REM sleep, I believe.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Gods_Mercenary There are many theories about sleep, and the question hasn't been fully answered yet. It's a great way to force you to rest, but no matter how much of a couch potato you are, you have to sleep anyway. It could also be a way to keep our ancestors inactive at nightime when the most dangerous predators were generally out, but then why do we make it up if we miss some? I think there's a myriad of reasons, giving us time to grow and repair muscle/ heal other parts of our body, for example, when we wouldn't sit around still for that long otherwise.

Cats can see good at night time and during the day time and they take cat naps, especially if well fed.

I agree that sleep might give the body a chance to repair because our awakened mind might interfer with that process. An interesting point to further explore.

[Gods_Mercenary]

For cats it is even more a sleep for digestion thing, Plus cats are the kind of nightime predators we'd be worrying about (not housecats, but their big brothers, obviously)

[Technosoul]

Quote by: Jack All kinds of interesting research being done...Polyphasic sleep.

Interesting research, Being retired I have acturally adopted that cat napping kind of habit about sleeping, that is why I might post things at all kinds of strange hours. Our 9 to 5 culture has sort of made that impossible for the average citizen. Short nap times will prevent us form pushing our self when we are tired and that helps to prevent us from getting worn out, which condition is less productive.

[Technosoul]

Quote by: another day Waste time? Time for what? We all die eventually. Time is only useful if it aids in your survival, which sleep does. Thus sleep is no waste of time.

Survival is basic, but humans can spend time enjoying things and doing stuff that makes us happy, once survival is not our main objective in life.

Concernng sleep, the best survival method is to learn how to be a lite sleeper instead of a deep sleeper. Such that our senses of hearing and smell can act as alarm clocks in an emergency situation.

Hibernation is also a cool idea for long term living in adverse weather conditions. Bears snooze in the winter when food supplies are low, frogs and hibernate in deserts for years until the next rain spell comes along. Humans have failed to evolve that evolutionary advantage,

But we could freeze your body instantly while you are in a deep sleep and then thaw you out 300 years later, then you could claim a long survival rate. Unless someone forgot to do that 300 years form now.

[Gods_Mercenary]

I'd prefer selective light sleeping, since it'll lead to a lack of sleep if you wake up every time a pair of headlights flashes on the house.

[Kuldeep]

Quote by: Lullaby Chainer It's not wasted. In delta sleep (stage 3 and 4), our body's chemical supplies are replenished, growth hormones are released in children, and our immune system is fortified. Delta sleep deprivation makes people more susceptible to illness. Memory (storage? sorting?) is usually associated with REM sleep, I believe.

Very true, sleep time of life is not wasted. What I wanted to write about sleep, you have already done in nice way.

What I am adding here might also be already written by somebody since I did not read the whole the thread. What I have noted that average time of sleep in a person's life has something surely to do with the age of the person. It is a common experience that the infants of few months sleep much longer as much as 18-20 hours a day. As age grows the time of sleep gradually reduces to around 7-8 hours at adult age. In old age though it is said sleep time reduces further which might be due to physical ailments and mental worries. But I have seen with my parents it increased to wards the end around to 12-14 hours. Longer sleep for infants might be possible due to need of internal brain development, memory cells development and other areas of brain development. Such development might be drastically affected while waking otherwise. For infants everything coming in their way is new so nature has kept their sleep duration much longer for assimilating the outside fresh knowledge and for internal organ development as well. Yes, nature has adjusted our average sleep time such that we are pulling on our life in a balanced manner. Sleep time is set as biological clock for a living being of any kind. I do not have any doubt even micro-organisms must be having a sleep time and thus also do live with a biological clock ticking on and on.

To conclude, here is an experiment which was done to demonstrate the importance of sleep over food requirement. Two dogs of comparable health were observed in the experiment. One was allowed to sleep but was not provided any food, while the other was not allowed to sleep but was provided food from time to time. After seven days, it was found the dog which was not allowed to sleep died and the dog which was not given food survived. That showed sleep is very very important for living a smooth life by any living being.