The Importance of Sleep

by   •   Daily Post
 
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My views and opinions can change, and those that are expressed in this post may not necessarily reflect the ones I hold today.
 

I have a zoology exam coming up in about two weeks, and some of the questions on the exam relate to the mental functions of sleep. So, I decided to pick out this Daily Post prompt and twist it into a way that I can write about what I’m learning so it can act as extra practice for me.

 

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Topic #323: If you needed more time, where would you take from? Lets say you had an emergency this week that required you to spend an hour, every day, taking care of something you don’t currently do. Where would that time come from? What would you drop first?

I’m not sure what I definitely would reduce first, but it seems like the most logical thing to drop is some sort of entertainment that is not needed in my life right now.

One thing that I assume a lot of people would say that they would drop first is sleep. I would drop sleep for up to 7.5 hours a night, but past that, I would not reduce it any more because if I did, I would be putting my own health at risk.

Sleep is largely responsible for restoring bodily functions and bringing you back to a well-functioning state. If you do not get 7-8 hours of sleep every night, your sleep debt piles up and you get progressively and increasingly tired and unresponsive. After a while, you will start having periods of microsleep where you doze off for very short periods of time, which can be extremely dangerous if you’re engaged in tasks that require your full attention like driving.

Sleep is also required for enhancing your memory. While you are sleeping, your brain is constantly creating scenarios in your mind about real life. Sometimes, we are able to recall these as dreams, and sometimes, we are not. The more our brains visualize ourselves doing a particular task over and over again, the better we get at it because we are essentially practicing without actually doing the task. Studies have shown that staying up all night to study for exams is actually not a good idea, and that getting a full night of sleep is better because your brain will take the information that you learned before you sleep and repeat it in your mind to get better at it.

 

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