We spend roughly a third of our life in a state of altered consciousness. In this state, our sensory connections to the outside world are dimmed and our ability to take physical action is paralyzed. We glide through different stages of sleep, alternating between wakefulness, light sleep, rapid-eye-movement (REM sleep) and coma-like deep sleep.
Why do we sleep? What a waste of time. Think how productive we could be if we spent those nightly hours doing things, learning, exploring - playing video games and binge-watching reality tv shows. Interestingly, our minds are far from silent and still during sleep. There is as much mental activity when asleep as there is during the day. What is going on?
As best we can tell, there are four critically important activities going on in our brains when we sleep. While asleep, our brains:
1. Organize and consolidate what has been learned
2. Repair damage
3. Restore homeostatic balance
4. Remove garbage.
In this episode we examine the CogWheel of sleep. We explore the nature of sleep, why it is important and how to optimize the benefits of nightly slumber.
Sleep Chapters:
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