What is sleep?

[TheLordOfChaos201]

Heyooooo!

I'm just about to hit the hay and I was wondering. What is sleep? Now this might just be a sleep deprived mind talking, but. do we really need sleep, what exactly does it do to make us need it or feel like we need it?

I mean my mind feels totally active as I write this and if I was allowed to rest my body would too... the only thing holding us back is our sleepiness forcing us to sleep.

I'm thinking of opening a poll later, so among the various questions possess... also drop on any ways you combat sleep

Now!
Go!!!!!

seriously go, I need some sleep... out of my room! ^-^

Some Research__

Google says that Scientists have been researching 'why do we need sleep?' for years but haven't found a definite reason. The only conclusion that they could draw was that our spinal fluid(Which is also around the brain) drains off more dead cells during sleep than when awake. I'm guessing that means our heads would explode without sleep, but given the size of cells that would only happen after a few thousand days

Like this guy ^^

 

[bear_369]

It's simple. It allows you to restore your stamina and energy.

 

[Chaosy]

We don't function without it that's why we feel weird if we lack it.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

It's simple. It allows you to restore your stamina and energy.

during the day I can rest and restore stamina without sleep...

what makes sleeping for 8 hours more efficient then say relaxing for 2 (while awake) ?

We don't function without it that's why we feel weird if we lack it.

What does it do that we need it so much?

there are some types of shark that never needs sleep(or more accurately rest. most fish can't sleep because they would drown if they did^-^ go figure)

surly us evolved beings should be able to do without rest?

 

[Chaosy]

Resting does not restore energy.
Resting just makes us consume less energy than usual.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

Resting does not restore energy.
Resting just makes us consume less energy than usual.

but it alleviates tiredness too... when I run up a flight of stairs I rest and feel at full energy again

 

[Chaosy]

Then you are not human.

Though I already knew that.

 

[Cherrymage]

Some goal that's almost impossible to reach that sends, no, forces you to struggle your way up, wasting minutes and hours of valuable time and energy just so you can wake up earlier.
Blame the school for starting so fucking early.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

Then you are not human.

Though I already knew that.

I am the demon from the Black hole coming to steal your soul... but I need sleep too dude, I just want to know why?

Some goal that's almost impossible to reach that sends, no, forces you to struggle your way up, wasting minutes and hours of valuable time and energy just so you can wake up earlier.
Blame the school for starting so fucking early.

Could you rephrase? I find it difficult to understand exactly what you mean???

 

[Radicool]

I'm thinking of opening a poll later, so among the various questions possess... also drop on any ways you combat sleep

While you are awake, the body releases a chemical called adenosine. This chemical binds to receptors in the brain, slowing brain activity. This chemical builds up over time while awake, causing you to feel sleepy. When asleep, this chemical is removed from the body and when you wake up, you feel, well, awake.

A common way to combat sleepiness is obviously coffee because caffeine. Caffeine works by acting like adenosine and binding to those receptors, blocking adenosine from acting on the brain, hence you can block off that sleepiness effect. Sunlight is also another way to reduce the effects of fatigue.

I don't recommend often combating fatigue. Your body needs sleep. We're far from knowing everything about sleep, but we do know some things.

Google says that Scientists have been researching 'why do we need sleep?' for years but haven't found a definite reason.

We know more about what happens if you don't sleep than what we know about why we need sleep. Sleep is important and you shouldn't hold it off on a daily basis. Theres plenty of information around on the internet about what our bodies do when we're asleep.

Interesting Videos/Sources

 

[Cherrymage]

Could you rephrase? I find it difficult to understand exactly what you mean???

Sorry if I made it confusing. To simply put it in summary, sleeping is like climbing your way up to the top of a skyscraper from the earth, that's very tiring and unproductive. I struggle to fall asleep as early as I can during school semesters.

 

[Eagle XI]

'Rest' ability...

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

Sorry if I made it confusing. To simply put it in summary, sleeping is like climbing your way up to the top of a skyscraper from the earth, that's very tiring and unproductive. I struggle to fall asleep as early as I can during school semesters.

That is interesting. when we are on a deadline to wake up we struggle to fall asleep, but then when we have a task that needs finishing (studying) sleep comes naturally.

an more in depth look into this and I recall something from school. the smart kids slept a lot more in class than the nay sayers. I asked one of these smart students why they sleep in class and the response was, 'school is boring'

therefore I ask.... does intelligence make it harder to stay awake?

 

[doom_sheep]

perfectly normal for most neutral creeps. studies show that if you hire yourself to a player your need for sleep magically disappears completely, however those studies were paid for by players and there's no mercenary union so they're very suspicious. it's far more likely they just work you as slaves without concern for your health.

as a sheep I am a superior being and never even think of sleep. I occasionally pause my skipping around for a few moments and am completely refreshed.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

perfectly normal for most neutral creeps. studies show that if you hire yourself to a player your need for sleep magically disappears completely, however those studies were paid for by players and there's no mercenary union so they're very suspicious. it's far more likely they just work you as slaves without concern for your health.

as a sheep I am a superior being and never even think of sleep. I occasionally pause my skipping around for a few moments and am completely refreshed.

Exactly what I'm SAYING!!!!

Why do sheep need no sleep but us creeps do? is it because we eat their kind and then count the sheep we had for lunch until we fall asleep.

that's it! it's a sheep curse isn't it? that's why when we yawn we look exactly like a sheep going Baaa

 

[Eagle XI]

Their inherent advantage isnt without flaws however: as their excessive energies culminate in a life-terminating explosion should the critter happent to get poked at rapidly.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

ok I did some more research and besides hibernation, humans sleep more than any other animal. that includes the sloth! you know that animal we accuse of being super lazy and slow, turn out it is busy partying all night while we catch some zzzs

the other bit of information I found was that in studies on sleep, deaths were as a result of fatigue. yet on studies on sharks they found that they never sleep and have to constantly swim forward to stay alive (they can't let water move into their gills, which would happen if they weren't moving forward). which comes back to my point..

why is it without sleep we die of fatigue, but sharks who have to constantly swim their whole life (20 years +) never sleeping... don't?

ps. I was kinda disappointed that people don't die of spontaneous brain explosion due to lack of sleep.

 

[LordDz]

Humans sleep more than any animal?
So cats that sleep 2/3 parts of their lives somehow sleep less than humans? Cool.

Sharks do sleep, but not by doing a "deep slumber" as we do, but more of a relaxed swimming.

 

[Roland]

Sleep means is the thing that you'll have a terrible Lucid Dreaming.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

Humans sleep more than any animal?
So cats that sleep 2/3 parts of their lives somehow sleep less than humans? Cool.

Sharks do sleep, but not by doing a "deep slumber" as we do, but more of a relaxed swimming.

cats are nocturnal. they hunt at night so though people may think they are lazy it's more of an issue that you are disturbing their normal sleeping cycle.

and come on! sharks swim in their sleep!!!! how lazy does that make us sound when we complain about sleeping on a bumpy mattresses. imagine if we had to jog in our sleep we would be like ninja in green spandex PJs (Naruto reference) chasing after the passion of youth....

 

[pyf]

Humans sleep more than any animal?
So cats that sleep 2/3 parts of their lives somehow sleep less than humans? Cool.

Sharks do sleep, but not by doing a "deep slumber" as we do, but more of a relaxed swimming.

@TheLordOfChaos201 : What @LordDz said.

[...] yet on studies on sharks they found that they never sleep and have to constantly swim forward to stay alive (they can't let water move into their gills, which would happen if they weren't moving forward).[...]

About sharks:
- buoyancy (please see also Swim bladder - Wikipedia)
- respiration
- sleep

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

@pyf

Argh thanks that is super cute of you, posting up those links for me. I'll add them to the main once I'm home. it's pretty cool that you've always got my back ♡

 

[pyf]

You are welcome. I had noticed a few inaccuracies about sharks in your post.


Now, this reminds me of an old docudrama from the 1970s only a few people noticed. It tells us the sad story of a poor, stranded shark named Bruce.

Because he is different and has a very minor eating disorder, humans hate him. Rejected by all, his feelings deeply hurt, Bruce finally reluctantly decides to reach the high seas, to live a peaceful life and start anew.

Unfortunately, a trio of lunatics with various compulsive disorders (one enjoys smashing radio transmitters with a baseball bat, one makes faces at children, one eats from other peoples' dish) decide to stalk, hunt and ultimately humiliate him by attaching him to barrels. After a long desperate struggle, deprived of rest / sleep and nearly exhausted, poor Bruce has no other choice but to defend himself...

The World Wildlife Fund does not endorse this film's scientific accuracy for some reason...

Spoiler: To hell with the whales, save the Sharks!

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

You are welcome. I had noticed a few inaccuracies about sharks in your post.


Now, this reminds me of an old docudrama from the 1970s only a few people noticed. It tells us the sad story of a poor, stranded shark named Bruce.

Because he is different and has a very minor eating disorder, humans hate him. Rejected by all, his feelings deeply hurt, Bruce finally reluctantly decides to reach the high seas, to live a peaceful life and start anew.

Unfortunately, a trio of lunatics with various compulsive disorders (one enjoys smashing radio transmitters with a baseball bat, one makes faces at children, one eats from other peoples' dish) decide to stalk, hunt and ultimately humiliate him by attaching him to barrels. After a long desperate struggle, deprived of rest / sleep and nearly exhausted, poor Bruce has no other choice but to defend himself...

The World Wildlife Fund does not endorse this film's scientific accuracy for some reason...

Spoiler: To hell with the whales, save the Sharks!

Wait?

Inaccuracies??? But Wikipedia says exactly what I said. Sharks don't sleep, they have to move forward to prevent themselves from drowning. It only says that some sharks don't need to constantly drift forward and that scientist believe that their swimming is automated by the spine like erections(yeah without a brain you can still get a boner... go figure). That doesn't discount the fact that they don't die of fatigue, where as without sleep we would die even if we weren't doing any activities

 

[LordDz]

"
All sharks need to keep water flowing over their gills in order for them to breathe, however not all species need to be moving to do this. Those that are able to breathe while not swimming do so by using their spiracles to force water over their gills, thereby allowing them to extract oxygen from the water. It has been recorded that their eyes remain open while in this state and actively follow the movements of divers swimming around them[73] and as such they are not truly asleep.

Species that do need to swim continuously to breathe go through a process known as sleep swimming, in which the shark is essentially unconscious. It is known from experiments conducted on the spiny dogfish that its spinal cord, rather than its brain, coordinates swimming, so spiny dogfish can continue to swim while sleeping, and this also may be the case in larger shark species."
Shark - Wikipedia

So no, not all sharks need to stay moving. But all sharks sleep.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

"
All sharks need to keep water flowing over their gills in order for them to breathe, however not all species need to be moving to do this. Those that are able to breathe while not swimming do so by using their spiracles to force water over their gills, thereby allowing them to extract oxygen from the water. It has been recorded that their eyes remain open while in this state and actively follow the movements of divers swimming around them[73] and as such they are not truly asleep.

Species that do need to swim continuously to breathe go through a process known as sleep swimming, in which the shark is essentially unconscious. It is known from experiments conducted on the spiny dogfish that its spinal cord, rather than its brain, coordinates swimming, so spiny dogfish can continue to swim while sleeping, and this also may be the case in larger shark species."
Shark - Wikipedia

So no, not all sharks need to stay moving. But all sharks sleep.

If you will notice the 'this also may be the case' in other words they aren't sure.
If you read into the link further they also say that though the shark is supposed to be sleeping their eyes follow the movement of any near by threats.

How do you identify a threat when you are supposed to be sleeping?

 

[LordDz]

"If you will notice the 'this also may be the case' in other words they aren't sure."
Erm, they have done experiments on smaller sharks.
This part:
It is known from experiments conducted on the spiny dogfish

Click on the link, you'll see a shark.
Now they aren't sure if larger sharks do this, but for those specific sharks they are sure as they have done tests. Which combined with my phrase "some sharks" means it's true.

Some animals sleep by only turning off half of their brain.. Humans are able to dream and think during sleep.. Sleep doesn't mean automatically that you're braindead and unable to function.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

"If you will notice the 'this also may be the case' in other words they aren't sure."
Erm, they have done experiments on smaller sharks.
This part:
It is known from experiments conducted on the spiny dogfish

Click on the link, you'll see a shark.
Now they aren't sure if larger sharks do this, but for those specific sharks they are sure as they have done tests. Which combined with my phrase "some sharks" means it's true.

Some animals sleep by only turning off half of their brain.. Humans are able to dream and think during sleep.. Sleep doesn't mean automatically that you're braindead and unable to function.

don't worry about the technicalities

let's work together to stay awake for ever

 

[LordDz]

You go first, tell me how it goes.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

You go first, tell me how it goes.

Well I find that ginger keeps you awake but only after 12 hours. water-hypossio. keeps you awake now but then only lasts an hour but works immediately. coffee sucks because it can make you sleepy but then you can't sleep.

there was a Tibetan technique I used to use which resets your need to sleep, but when I found out it causes strokes I did the smart thing and stopped.

the last method I have yet to try is to cover one eye during the day and the other at night. the reason for this is because scientists have discovered the dominate side of your brain falls asleep first causing your eye on the opposite side to shut first. which I want to try manipulate by shutting one eye to see if it rests that side of the brain so that it can take over night shift.

unfortunately I can't try that one because I work on a construction site and I require both eyes to stay alive.

 

[Cherrymage]

But Wikipedia says exactly what I said.

You do realize that anyone can edit Wikipedia, right?

Well, I think we should look for other sources of information, or at least look out for the External Links and References before citing anything from Wikipedia.

 

[TheLordOfChaos201]

You do realize that anyone can edit Wikipedia, right?

Well, I think we should look for other sources of information, or at least look out for the External Links and References before citing anything from Wikipedia.

so your saying I'm right and everyone else are liars

thanks ^-^

 

[Cherrymage]

Nooooooo, I don't mean that.

Well... just... take everything you have not personally experienced with a grain of salt, except when your soul and heart feels it to be the right answer, of course.

 

[pyf]

You do realize that anyone can edit Wikipedia, right?

Well, I think we should look for other sources of information, or at least look out for the External Links and References before citing anything from Wikipedia.

The overall quality of each Wikipedia article varies from language to language. Most of the French ones are somewhat lacking, and would not make the cut as-is for immediate publication in an Encyclopaedia. As a very very wild guess, it is my personal belief maybe 15% of the French articles may already be up to such high quality standards.

Wikipedia relies on the fact, a piece of information already published by a third-party may be the one to be trusted. For example, should I have a Wikipedia page about me, any personal information I would try to add directly to it would be immediately rejected, because I am not considered to be an objective/trusted source of information(!). But should I be interviewed by a journalist and should my very same words be published by him, then those words would be considered to be more trusted.

That being said, any content / source of information in a Wikipedia article can be challenged by anyone. Wikipedia articles are dynamic and ever-evolving; external references are not (or they hardly are afaik).

Fixing vandalism in Wikipedia articles is a daily task, if not an hourly one. Fortunately, this does not affect all the Wikipedia articles in all its available languages.