Is the human default state asleep or awake?

Question

skycat, that's all very nice, but it's not exactly an answer to my question, is it now?

Answer 1

That's a good question. And there aren't many. But I would think asleep, because it takes work to be awake. Sleeping (for most of us) is effortless, if the timing is right.

Answer 2

It´s neither and both at the same time. The default setting is the state you are in automatically, its what you´re programmed to be unless someone manually changes that about you. So, this is just my opinion, but i would say the human default state is: eating, being awake and being asleep. Those are the 3 things we would do regardless of our life situation, and/or the century we were living in. A human cant be asleep all the time, and he cant be awake all the time either, we´re just programmed to have both functions and we cant be any other way really. Interesting question, by the way. :)

Answer 3

What a great question...I think asleep is the default, because it is involuntary..OK., I know that we can try to go to sleep but at the end of the day no matter how much we may try not to, eventually we can't stop ourselves going to sleep.
Ps...just thought...we can't stop ourselves waking up either..oh I don't know!...lol

Answer 4

We have no default state. It's just the principle of active living organisms where we would have to eat for respiration and sleep for rest.

Answer 5

It depends how you were born. If you were born sleeping, ur default state is sleep. Mostly ppl are born crying, their default state is crying and they cry whole life. My default state was flirting with nurse ...

Answer 6

Most standard psychological tests used in human sleep deprivation research are generally unhelpful from the viewpoint of sleep function, being far too simple, unstimulating and tediously boring. Boredom facilitates sleepiness even in mildly sleepy people, and is why vigilance and reaction time tasks are so sensitive to sleep loss; the sleepy brain increasingly needs motivating sensory stimulation to keep it awake. When sleep deprived people are encouraged to apply more compensatory effort to an otherwise dull task, then the deficit can be reversed, at least for a while. Lapsing ("microsleeps") is probably the explanation for the performance failures - as when a sleepy person is not lapsing, reaction times are normal.

A traditional line of thinking is that short and interesting tasks, typified by convergent, logical tests, are insensitive to sleep deprivation. Nevertheless, if they are simple and repetitive, then such tasks can still be sensitive to sleep loss; again because of monotony and boredom. So it might be surprising that certain, short, novel, divergent and interesting tasks, for example, of verbal fluency, and non-verbal planning, are sensitive to sleep loss. The reason seems to be that, unlike the logical tasks, they rely heavily on the prefrontal cortex. This region is one of the hardest working cortical areas during wakefulness. If sleep provides cortical recovery following wakefulness, then this area might be more vulnerable to sleep loss. The prefrontal cortex is also responsible, for example, for: directing and sustaining attention, inhibiting distraction, aspects of working memory, and flexible thinking. Such skills are also impaired by short term sleep deprivation, despite the participants' best efforts to perform well, even following caffeine at a dose that returns reaction time and sleepiness to normal levels.

Recent brain imaging studies, in the USA, with similarly sleep deprived people, confirm that the prefrontal cortex indeed shows particularly profound changes with sleep loss. Moreover, other cortical regions usually not involved with tasks having a prefrontal focus, become more active, as if to compensate.

The type of sleep that seems to be associated with cerebral recovery is reflected by slow wave ("delta") activity in the EEG. It is the form of sleep most highly correlated with the length of prior wakefulness, appears early on in sleep, and takes priority over all other sleep states, including REM sleep. Also, it is most apparent in the prefrontal area. Brain imaging during sleep shows that the greatest degree of cerebral shutdown occurs during slow wave activity; more so in the prefrontal region.

No doubt this "prefrontal" approach to sleep deprivation will turn out to be too simple. Nevertheless, it does have several real-world implications, especially for decision makers (including junior hospital doctors) obliged to go without sleep in an emergency. If there is the need to deal with surprise and the unexpected, be innovative, think flexibly, avoid distraction, make risk assessments, be aware of what is feasible, appreciate one's own capabilities, and communicate clearly, then these are the very behaviours that are likely to be dependent on a fully functioning prefrontal cortex, and the most likely to begin to fail in these circumstances.

Answer 7

By default, we are all asleep. That's why we die... and be in default for eternity.

Answer 8

default i would think sleep (we dream there) but this is weird i have dreamed (validated by others who shared a dream) and been awake....
r

Answer 9

Considering how complacent people are to wars, exploitation, hunger, disease, global warming, drugs, crimes, and politics, I think we are all deep asleep or long dead.

Answer 10

both ... day is for living and night is for sleep .. u cant say which one os more .. they both form a part of life