Sleep was once regarded as a passive, dormant phase of our daily lives. We now begin to understand that our brains are in fact very active during sleep. Being one of our most basic human needs, it occupies about a third of our lives. However why do we have to sleep?
Some studies have suggested that sleep allows memory consolidation, a process which converts short-term memory to long-term one. Our brains receive bits and pieces of information during the daytime. When we sleep during the night, the information will be processed and stored by opening up the biochemical pathways in the neurons of our brains. This consolidation process, which cannot take place during the day, is crucial as it helps us to retain information and perform better on memory tasks.
Another theory posits that during bedtime, cerebrospinal fluid will circulate around the brain to flush away the metabolic waste which our day-to-day cellular activities produce. This is a glymphatic clearance function that cannot be effectively performed when we are awake. As we get rid of the toxic waste, our body and mind feel fully rejuvenated.
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