Sleep

“Many things such as love, sleep and behaving unaffectedly - are done worst when we try the hardest to do them.”


CS Lewis


Why do we sleep? Why do we need sleep? This is a question which has baffled the world of science for many centuries. It makes sense that sleep is a tool through which we are energized, but when I look at our new born baby sleeping for most of the day I also realise that this baby needs sleep more than anything else to integrate all the sensory information which he is confronted with when awake. So it seems that even when we are sleeping our brains are still working.


It has also been shown that sleep plays a role in the body’s immune function. That is may be one of the explanations why we get a cold very easily when we are under a lot of stress and not sleeping very well. While we sleep we are creating memory. Maybe I am just stirring the waters here, but sleeping might be more valuable for a student’s exam results, than those extra hours of midnight studying. A child even grows while he is sleeping. Growth hormone levels are at its highest during the time children sleeps.


Maybe it is easier to find our why we sleep by looking at what happens to us when we suffer from a lack of sleep. We do know that human beings who are sleep deprived become irritable, have a short attention span and do not have the ability to control their emotions very well (I think all mothers of small babies will be able to identify with these symptoms). Thus, somehow during the time we sleep our emotional wellbeing also becomes enhanced. We can focus better, cope better with stressors. That is maybe one of the reasons why a key question to patients suffering from depression is how well they are sleeping.


We do not need to understand much about sleeping cycles and the dynamics of sleep to know that sleep rejuvenates, it is there to be enjoyed. For that reason, I am sure that all the readers will agree with the above quote from CS Lewis – it is when we try to sleep, when we are longing for sleep, when most of the times it eludes us. I do not think I have really appreciated sleep enough before the birth of our baby. I have now become a friend of the night (not in an obscure way) – believe me I do not let a chance to take a nap slip through my fingers anymore. Unfortunately a daytime nap does not quite have the same effect as an 8 hour sleep.


It does not matter how many studies we do, sleep will always be a mythical entity. A time during which we are not self-aware, entering a secret world ruled by dreams, many of which we will never even remember.


Despite the little we know about sleep – it is available to all, missed bitterly the moment is eludes us and fortunately it is one of the few things in life which need not be understood to be enjoyed.