The Purpose of Sleep – Theories

by Anupum Pant

Did you know?

  • You can live longer without food than you can live without sleep.
  • On an average, a person sleeps for 1/3rd of his life. That means if you are 30 years old, you’ve slept for 10 years already.
  • The world record for the longest span remaining awake is 11 days. The record was set by 17-year-old Randy Gardner in 1964 when he was awake for 264 hours and 12 minutes. (Don’t try this)
  • If it takes you less than five minutes to fall asleep then very likely you are sleep deprived. It should take about 10 minutes normally.
  • You can lose up to 2 grams every minute while sleeping. That comes to about a lost Kilogram at night.

What is Sleep?

Everybody sleeps. On an average, everyday, a bat sleeps for 15 hours while just 3 hours are enough for a Horse to feel rested [How much do animals sleep – chart]. Dolphins can sleep with half of their brains active and even the smallest of worms need sleep. But, till date, scientists haven’t been able to reach a consensus on why we actually do it?

Sleep can be understood as a life sustaining activity. It can be compared to another of our important activity – eating. These strongest of the human urges – eating and sleeping – serve a nearly common purpose – quell the urges; just as eating relieves hunger, sleeping relives sleepiness.

While it is true that we may have not been able to spot the primary purpose of sleep, years of research hasn’t gone wasted. With time, we have learnt a lot more about sleep than we used to know 50 years back. There have been hundreds of practical and impractical theories on why we sleep. I’ve mentioned a few of the realistic ones here.

Purpose of Sleep – Theories

Inactivity Theory:

According to this old theory, sleep evolved out of the need to be safe. It suggests that inactivity at night is an adaptation that serves as a survival mechanism. It functions as an activity which would keep an animal safe during the time it is most vulnerable e.g. Humans are vulnerable at night because they don’t see well in dark.

This theory is easily countered using the argument: Being conscious and still, is much better way to stay safe than lying unconscious and still.

Energy Conversation Theory:

It suggests, the main function of sleep is to reduce the demand and consumption rate of energy at times when searching for food isn’t an efficient option. Some believe, that this theory is a part of the inactivity theory. But, unlike the inactivity theory, this theory has been bolstered by various experiments which prove that the consumption of energy is reduced when an organism sleeps.

Restorative theory:

It explains sleep as an opportunity for a body to rejuvenate in terms of muscles, tissues, proteins, cells and growth hormones. Also, during sleep, the body clears an accumulated molecule called adenosine from the system, and makes us feel alert when we wake.

recent study also seems to support the restorative theory in a fresh manner. It says, brain accumulates toxins [like beta amyloid] while it is awake. The concentration of such toxins keeps increasing during waking state. The study observed an increased activity of spinal fluid being pumped into the brain in rodents (hasn’t been studied on humans yet). This spinal fluid functions as a medium to pump out toxins from the brain. This theory could be a breakthrough in the study of causes and prevention of Alzheimer’s as it is known that toxins like beta amyloid cause the disease in humans [How beta amyloid causes Alzheimer’s].

Brain Plasticity Theory:

According to this, sleep plays a critical role in brain development. Infants (age when the brain develops the most), for example, sleep for about 13 – 14 hours every day. On the other hand, the poor ability to learn and perform tasks due to the lack of sleep explains the role of sleep in adults. Since, It has been proven that brain is highly active during sleep, this theory remains the most plausible one in being able to state one of the functions of sleep.