The Purpose of Sleep

Why do we need to sleep anyway? Is sleep a vital function like food and water? Believe it or not, this may be the biggest mystery about sleep.

Podcast Lecture: The Somniloquy

Readings:

Dement, The Promise of Sleep, Ch. 10

Lavie, The Enchanted World of Sleep, Ch. 11-12

Questions:

1. How does Dement challenge the common notion that we sleep to rest the body and the brain?

2. What conclusions, if any, do Dement and Lavie draw from the Randy Gardner wakefulness marathon in 1965?

3. In what ways does mammalian sleep differ from human sleep? What is the likely purpose of sleep for animals?

4. What are some of the latest theories about the purpose of REM sleep?

5. What were the results of the Rechtshaffen rat sleep deprivation study?

6. What other functions has the body adapted sleep for?

Activities:

Sleep Log: Review the data you have gathered in your sleep log alongside of the results of your home MSLT. Do you see evidence of sleep debt? If so, how much sleep do you think you need to aim for daily? Continue the log for another week, and add in these two questions to answer daily:

--Comment on the quality of the night's sleep

--Comment on your overall alertness for the day