ELI5: Why do we need 7-9 hours of sleep?

r/

That seems like a whole lot, are we really accumulating that much damage?

Comments

  1. srt2366 Avatar

    Sounds like a drunken AI bot explanation for the question.

  2. Upvote_Me_Slag Avatar

    Why do we need so much time awake?

  3. fromwhichofthisoak Avatar

    Science still doesn’t know. Eli5 there. We don’t know why we sleep and dream or need to.

  4. TheWurstOfMe Avatar

    One thing that happens during sleep is that our brain shrinks and some of the fluid drains taking waste with it.

    Also, if you don’t sleep, you will start to go crazy. I don’t think they understand why yet.

    And while this doesn’t explain why we need so much sleep, this does explain how important it physiology thinks it is. Animals basically have two drives, eat and procreate. Animals will give up safety to sleep. And the only time they’ve found animals to skip sleep is when they are searching for food.