Sleep and its Importance to our Health

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Sleep: Dreams, Nightmares, and Memories
A proverbial quote that is often accredited to Benjamin Franklin and his Poor Richard's Almanac states, “lost time is never found again.” Time is something precious, and with only 24 hours in a day it seems like there is never enough daylight. However precious time may be, we do not utilize the full 24 hours. A third of our lives is spent asleep. That means that if an average person lives until they are 80, they will spend approximately 27 years asleep! So why do we spend so much time unconscious, oblivious to the world? Sleep is a mystery, but from research it has been proven to be necessary for our health.
Stages of Sleep
Before we can understand sleep and it's stages we must first understand the function of the brain during sleep. Neurotransmitters are chemicals in our brain that send different neurons to control whether we are asleep or awake. "Neurons in the brainstem...produce neurotransmitters...that keep some parts of the brain active while we are awake." We have other neurons located at the bottom of the brain that "switch off" the signals that keep us awake as we fall asleep. "Research also suggests that a chemical called adenosine builds up in our blood while we are awake and causes drowsiness. This chemical gradually breaks down while we sleep" (NINDS). Even while we are sleeping, the brain is still working just as hard as it did during the day.
There are five stages of sleep, stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM sleep. Each stage has distinct characteristics, and science suggests each stage seems to serve a separate purpose.
“Not knowing why humans spend a third of their lives unconscious hasn't prevented scientists from describing five different stages of sleep from recordings of bra...

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McLeod, Saul. Sigmund Freud. Simply Psychology. 2013. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep. 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Saey, Tina Hesman. The Why Of Sleep. Science News. October 24, 2009: 16. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2014
Study finds sleep vital for memory. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania. 10 Jul. 2006. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.
Uma Devi P, Murugan S, Senapathy J G. Sleep Strengthens Memories. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2010 February. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

Winson, Jonathan. The Meaning of Dreams. Scientific American. 1990. Web. 2 Apr. 2014.

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