What is the purpose of sleep (scientifically/biologically)?

Question

No,no,I'm not going to stop sleeping!I find it something wonderfull,but I was wondering what is the purpose of sleep biologically...
Why does our body needs sleep?Why and how does it asks for sleep?I have heard something for rejuvenation of brain cells
Is there anything else?
Asking in another way:
Serum can take the place of food for a while.What would do to our body a theoritical 'serum of sleep'?!

dutygal:"You got it right. The rejuvenation of brain cells requires sleep. "

So, is that the only use of sleep?

Answer 1

the body repairs and recharge itself when you sleep.

Answer 2

This is only a theory, but since the subject is apparently wide open to theory here goes.
Have you ever re-orgged or de-fragged your computer? All the bits and pieces of your files are taken and organized so that the information is together in the same place on your hard drive. This makes it more efficient for the read/write head to locate the information and bring it up for your use. That's what I think happens when you sleep (or, specifically, dream). A lot of information enters your brain every day and it needs to be organized, filed away if you will, so that your brain can function more efficiently. And to go one step further, I think that's why when you dream you get all sorts of odd images and mixed-up 'stories'. Just picture that when your brain is filing away all the things you saw and heard each day, it opens all the different files it has created, and all the information in those files is exposed for a time and enters your dreams and possibly joins up with other information that is open at that time and you can get some really wild and crazy combinations. When you wake up and remember a dream fairly well, try thinking of things that happened to you the previous day (even everything you saw on television or read in the news) and see if you don't recognize a lot of input that your brain received that day. I've had fun for years now, identifying the reasons for my dreams. They don't have to be any deep dark secrets or repressed feelings or any of that mumbo-jumbo. And they're probably not a prediction of the future, any more than what you can do yourself every day from your knowledge and intuition. It's a very logical explanation of sleep and dreams, and that's why I like it so much, being such a logical person myself. :<) I hope this is an interesting approach to everyone who reads it.

Answer 3

The purposes are many! But the most important one is life! Those people who do not sleep regulrarly (lets call them the sleep deprived) live shorter lives. It is not only brain cells that rejuvinate themselves but every organ in your body. So it is recommended you get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night to keep your organ systems functioning up to their full potential. I also read that you can not "catch up" on sleep. Say for instance you go out partying the entire weekend and only get a total of 8 hours of sleep in the two days...your body has lost the opportunity to recover from the days before and that is why you'll feel sluggish because your body is running on empty! And overworking your organs damages them.

Sorry, I didn't mean to write a novel but I hope this helps some!

Answer 4

Put simply, no-one really knows but lots of people are trying to find out! If you do a search, you will find many studies which have shown various effects of sleep deprivation. What has basically been shown is that there is no loss of muscular strength with lack of sleep, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with rejuvinating the body physically.
What has been shown, however, is that you will go nuts if aren't allowed to sleep (and probably die)! Without adequate sleep, people's brain functions are significantly impaired, so all that we can presume is that it is necessary for the continued proper functioning of the brain. As yet, however, no-one has pinned down precisely why this is.

Answer 5

Sleep clears the emotional and mental clutter that accumulates during the day, cancelling it out. Dreams play a significant part in this process. If this clutter were to remain, it would interfere with the production of new memories. Sleeping "resets" the body and brain, getting it ready for the activities of the day.

The forging of new memories takes place when there is a "blank slate" in the brain. A blank slate is more impressionable. Lack of sleep makes it more difficult to learn. Essentially, sleep helps one to excel scholastically. This has been proven in recent scientific experiments.

If you want to screw up your mind and limit your abilities, simply stop sleeping.

Answer 6

Sleep also gives your brain a chance to sort things out. Scientists aren't exactly sure what kinds of organizing your brain does while you sleep, but they think that sleep may be the time when the brain sorts and stores information, replaces chemicals, and solves problems.
The amount of sleep a person needs depends a lot on his or her age.

Skipping one night's sleep makes a person cranky and clumsy. After missing two nights of sleep, a person will have problems thinking and doing things; his or her brain and body can't do their normal tasks nearly as well. After five nights without sleep, a person will hallucinate. Eventually, it becomes impossible for the brain to give its directions to the rest of the body without sleep
Sleep occurs in a recurring cycle of 90 to 110 minutes and is divided into two categories: non-REM (which is further split into four stages) and REM sleep.

The current world record for the longest period without sleep is 11 days, set by Randy Gardner in 1965. Four days into the research, he began hallucinating.

its not possible in my opinion for a "sleep serum" or alternative

Answer 7

You got it right. The rejuvenation of brain cells requires sleep.

Answer 8

yeah..for the rejuvenation of brain cells.we need to sleep in order for our body to regain it's normal status..ofcourse,if you wouldn't sleep, you'd be like a dying rose...well,try not to sleep.and figure out how it feels.haha....sleep is the analogy of charging..it's the best way of resting.

Answer 9

One theory is that during our active day, we degrade proteins that are essential for brain function faster than they can regenerate. Experiments show that during sleep these proteins are created faster.

Answer 10

sleep is when the body has time to heal and grow and process things that happen to it during the day
If you deprive someone of sleep they cant function properly and do eventually die