Sleep
Table of Contents
1. Sleep is essential — researchers are trying to work out why
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00964-w
A typical person spends more than 20 years in a state of dreamy semi-consciousness. But surprisingly little is known about why we need this down time
Current research points to several critical functions:
- vital housekeeping role in the brain, flushing out metabolic byproducts and toxins that accumulate during waking hours,
- restoring and rebalancing the brain's complex dynamics and neural circuits, which are disrupted by the constant activity of being awake,
- without sleep, our brains would be unable to maintain the delicate equilibrium required for optimal function.