Preview

Persuasive Essay Why Do We Sleep

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
219 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Persuasive Essay Why Do We Sleep
The urge to sleep is an internal drive that we are all born with. Sleep allows our bodies to undergo maintenance, reinforce our immune system and many other things. However, answering the question, “why do we sleep?”, isn’t as easy as saying we’re tired. There are many theories that explain why we sleep and what its function is. The four main ideologies of sleep are restoration, healing, learning and evolution. The restoration theory explains sleeping as a “recharging process”. Since our day-to-day activities require so much energy, sleep allows our bodies to rest and alleviated the strain on us, mentally and physically. Similarly, the healing theory, explains how the body and mind stay vigorous. This is supported by increased division among

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    MPS4 Fall 2014

    • 513 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Let me suggest an idea about the adaptive function of sleep: It did not originally evolve for rest and repair (though those functions may have been layered on later, at least in some species). Instead, I’ll propose that its primary function is to keep the organism out of harm’s way during phases to which it is poorly adapted. For example, day and night can differ dramatically in lighting, temperature, humidity, abundance and type of predators and prey, etc., so an organism that was well adapted to one set of conditions would be relatively poorly adapted to the other. According to this hypothesis, sleep helps organisms avoid temporal regions of lower fitness.…

    • 513 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sleep is believed to function as a means of restoring the biological system to a better working order this is the basis of the restoration theory, Sleep is divided into several different stages such as SWS, and REM sleep, Oswald proposed that each of these sleep stages has a different restorative function. SWS enables the body to repair itself and REM enables brain recovery and memory consolidation.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Sleeping is something we spend doing approximately one third of our human life cycle and can vary in quality from one night to another and have a tremendous impact on our daily performance when we awake the next morning by either having a lousy day or having a productive day. “Some 70 million people in the United States have a sleep problem. About 40 million adults suffer from a chronic sleep disorder; an additional 20 – 30 million have intermittent sleep-related…

    • 1963 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sleep is very important to the regulation of the body 's functions. Sleep is regulated by circadian rhythms. The circadian rhythm is controlled in the brain by an area called the suprachiasmatic nucleus which controlls around 20,000 neurons. These rhythms determine the ideal times for structured and restorative sleep and are generlly in 24 hour cycles. The exact functions of sleep are not exactly known however, those who are sleep deprived have been found to have weakened immune systems and poor brain function. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2007), sleep gives neurons used while we are awake time to repair and that without this shutdown time they become depleted of energy and begin to malfunction. Sleep is also believed to give the brain a chance to exercise important connections that might otherwise deteriorate due to inactivity.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The restoration theory of sleep function is carried out by Oswald, who argues that the purpose of sleep is to restore depleted energy reserves, eliminate waste products from muscles, repair cells and recover physical abilities that have been lost during the day.…

    • 460 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A02 – If sws and rem sleep is restorative, total sleep deprivation should have negative effects…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The evolutionary explanation (also referred to as the ecological approach) is based on the observation of animals in their natural environment. The evolutionary approach to sleep has focused on ecological niches. These refer to the lifestyle of animals, i.e how and where they live, and involves many factors that have been shown to be relevant to sleep. The evolutionary approach states that there are several beneficial consequences to sleep. For example, it allows for energy conservation; it provides a period of time where there is no activity, thus allowing the conservation of energy which is essential for animals with high metabolic rates. Webb suggested that everyday sleep is similar to hibernation - sleep conserves energy at times when it’s harder to get resources (i.e at night time). Meddis suggested that sleep helps keep animals safe. By being quiet and still, they’re less likely to attract predators. However, sleep also makes animals vulnerable to predators if discovered. On the other hand, not sleeping at all would be very dangerous, but as it seems to occur in all animals, it must have an important function - although how much sleep animals have varies. Animals that graze often and must avoid predators less, while predators, that don’t eat as frequently and aren’t hunted, sleep more.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Science has proven that sleep is one of the most essential things needed to keep the average individual healthy and stable. Without the “healing” powers of sleep, our minds and our bodies can be easily affected because of the constant feeling of fatigue. The human body thrives on the energy that sleep ensues in our bodies every night. While the average individual is to sleep approximately eight hours a night, realistically speaking, getting that much sleep on a regular basis is something to strive for. And while the amount of sleep we get per night might waver around the average, sleep deprivation is a far cry from being sluggish the next morning. Sleep deprivation has an extreme affect of the mind and body because of the lack of energy that your body may have stored up. However, the biggest affect it might have on your body is the brain. It has been proven the lack of…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Regulatory Behavior Paper

    • 1403 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The nervous system is an extremely elaborate biological machine. Without question, the nervous system is a system so intricate and comprehensive that professionals in the field of medicine to this day do not have a “complete picture” of each of the working details of the human nervous system. Of these different mechanisms, perhaps the one most riddled with speculation, is the mechanism of sleep. In discussing regulatory process, sleep is perhaps one of the most essential to the healthy upkeep of the human nervous system. This process is such a necessary behavior that without it, the nervous system, and the overall health of the individual in question can become compromised (to the point of fatality) without it.…

    • 1403 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many things that have been assumed about sleep over thousands of years. There have been many changing ideas on the reasons that we sleep. There have also been many assumptions made about what happens during sleep. Titas Lucretius Carus had a very interesting view on sleep. Lucretius was a poet who wrote on ideas of science topics as well. To understand what Lucretius says in his writing “The Nature of Sleep”, one must understand the time that this was written. This selection came from a book called “On the Nature of Things”, which was written in 50 b.c. Lucretius had some similar viewpoints that people today find true and some that may seem very strange and hard…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why do we sleep? What governs when or how long we sleep? This activity will assist you in understanding two common sleep theories, recuperation and circadian, which provide different answers to these questions. Depending on which one you support, it may change your outlook on sleep and your current sleeping habits.…

    • 451 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Provide Support for Sleep

    • 3327 Words
    • 14 Pages

    Sleep is important for our health and well-being. Extensive research has been done on the effects of sleep. These studies consistently show that sleep plays a vital role in promoting physical health, longevity, and emotional well-being. This explains why, after a good night's sleep, we feel better, our thoughts are clearer, and our emotions are less fragile. Without adequate sleep our judgment, mood, and ability to learn and retain information are weakened.…

    • 3327 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sleep Deprivation

    • 2591 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Sleep is one of the most fundamental components of a healthy existence. The phenomenon of sleep deprivation, resulting either from lifestyle choices or the undertreatment of sleep related illnesses, could be a factor for a multitude of health disorders prevalent in today’s society (Nature, 2005). It is suggested that people of industrialized countries obtain about 20% less sleep today than they did a century ago. Sleep deprivation has been linked to Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and has also been found to significantly increase the chance of a motor-vehicle accident (Wilson, 2005). In order to address the problem of sleep deprivation, it is imperative that the motivation behind sleep and sleep deprivation is understood. This essay will look at sleep and sleep deprivation through five different perspectives of motivation: evolutionary, psychodynamic, behaviourist, cognitive, and hierarchy of needs. This essay will then argue that by viewing sleep and sleep deprivation from a multitude of perspectives, a holistic understanding of the phenomena might be achieve.…

    • 2591 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    After recording my sleep for a whole week I came to some realizations that I should probably go to bed a little earlier. Though in an regular week, full of classes, exams, and other events I was able to average a little under 8 hours. There were nights that I was only able to squeeze in a little under 6 hours. I was able to go home that weekend, so you can see that I obviously sleep better there than I do in my dorm bed, I was able to catch up on sleep and get way over the recommended amounts. I do think that I get a decent amount of sleep when you average it out, but when you start to look at it separately the nights that I was only allowed 5 or so hours were really rough days for me.…

    • 492 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sleep plays an important role in our lives. From tiny insects to humongus grizzly bears, every living thing needs sleep. We need it to carry out our daily activities and to live a long and healthy life. Many people fail to realize that sleep is as equally important as breathing, and because of this their bodys are not functioning to their full potentials. Not getting the amount of sleep your body needs can lead to mental and physical health problems. Lack of sleep impairs the mind's way of thinking, can cause health issues and affect your judgment and mood. Sleep is a vital part of life.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays