The Science Of Sleeping

Sleep is a natural state of bodily rest observed throughout all living things. In humans, other mammals, and a substantial majority of other animals which have been studied, regular sleep is essential for survival. However its purposes are only partly clear and are the subject of intense research. As mentioned in the article, the importance of sleeping does not end when a baby grows out of the cot. It is vital for school-aged children. A good night sleep helps kids deal with the social stresses and pressures of a busy school environment and also promotes learning. On the other hand, a child with insufficent sleep would have trouble concentrating during lesson and hence, fail to understand what the teacher might have been trying to explain or teach.

Sleep is also essential for the growth of brain. Sleep debt is the effect of not getting enough rest and sleep; a large debt causes mental and physical fatigue. Scientists do not agree on how much sleep debt it is possible to accumulate, nor on whether the prevalence of sleep debt among adults has changed appreciably in the industrialized world in recent decades. Children nowadays often have not enough sleep. Why is this so? Today, as technology is advanced, there are more and more distractions to keep them awake and out of bed for longer. Television, internet, talking on the telephone and playing video games all compete for their bedtime attention.

Sleeping also affects one's rate of regeneration. Wound healing has been shown to be affected by sleep. In 2004, a test conducted by Gumustekin et al shows that sleep deprivation hindering the healing of burns on rats. It has also been shown that sleep deprivation affects the immune system and metabolism. Rats were deprived of sleep for 24 hours. When compared with a control group, the sleep-deprived rats' blood tests indicated a twenty percent decrease in white blood cell count, a significant change in the immune system.

All in all, i feel that sleeping is an important part of our whole life time. Consider that we sleep eight hours per day thoughout our whole life time. By the age of seventy-five, we would have slept for the time equilavent to 25 years! So the teachers cannot really blame us for dozing off in class sometimes.