We spend a third of our lives doing it.
Napoleon,
Florence Nightingale and Margaret Thatcher got by on four hours a night.
Thomas
Edison claimed it was waste of time.
Why do we sleep?
So why do
we sleep? This is a question that has baffled scientists for centuries and the
answer is, no one is really sure. Some believe that sleep gives the body a
chance to recuperate from the day's activities but in reality, the amount of
energy saved by sleeping for even eight hours is miniscule - about 50 kCal, the
same amount of energy in a piece of toast.
We have
to sleep because it is essential to maintaining normal levels of cognitive
skills such as speech, memory, innovative and flexible thinking. In other
words, sleep plays a significant role in brain development.
