Why Do We Need Sleep?

A good night’s sleep gives you the rest you need, leaving you more productive and creative for the next day. While the mind shuts down when you hit the sack, the brain does not disconnect from the environment. There is a lot of processing and restoring happening every night to ensure your immunity is built and memories are saved. However, without sleep, the body and mind get affected.

Why humans need to sleep every night or what exactly happens in the brain while sleeping is a vast uncharted area that scientists continue to explore till date. This exploration through various studies and scientific experiments have proved that brain cells are very much active when we sleep and carries out a different set of functions as opposed to when we are awake.

Here is what happens to your body and mind when you sleep

• Consolidates and Saves Memories

We take in a hoard of information every day. This information is categorized, registered and stored in that part of the brain that holds all short-term memory. When you fall asleep, the brain then actively consolidates and moves in information from short term memory to long term memory for permanent storage. Resultantly, all memories are made and saved when you are asleep. When you don’t get the right amount of quality sleep, the brain cannot successfully perform the functions of memory consolidation, leaving some gaps or mix-up.

• Builds health and immunity

While eating the right nutritious food and getting regular exercise is essential to maintaining health and building immunity, sleep plays an equally important role. When the body is asleep, it generates a protein called cytokines that attacks infections and inflammation. Without this protein, the body cannot cope with infections and as a result, you become more prone to diseases and weakening of the immune system. If you are one to regularly fall sick or easily catch infections from others, you should probably hit the sack for seven to eight hours every night. Furthermore, sleep also restores any damages and repairs sustained by the body.

• Makes Decision

You’ve probably heard the term ‘sleep on it’. The meaning of this phrase has a lot more significance than mere literary usage. When you sleep, the attention paying function of the brain is deactivated in the process of consolidating and storing memories, thus enabling the brain cells to actively make decisions based on the information stored. Furthermore, the lack of sleep compromises that area of the brain responsible for analyzing positive or negative outcomes causing you to make poor decisions and bad judgements.

• Cleans the Brain for More Space

Have you wondered how the brain never runs out of storage space? This is mainly because of the glymphatic system — a pathway running from the brain to the central nervous system. This system gets activated only when you sleep and is completely deactivated when you are wide awake. The main function of this system is to flush out all toxins and waste from the body thereby giving you the mental space to be productive and take in more information without exhausting brain space.

The study on the importance of sleep only reiterates why sleep is essential to keep you alive and healthy. To make your sleep wholesome, you can take steps of your own to build a conducive and comfortable sleeping environment, one without any disturbances. Part of the comfort also comes from good bedding choices — check out our line of bamboo sheets to give you the ultimate comfort and the best sleep.